The Silver Haired Twins
by StormFarron185
Summary: Both Yu Narukami and Yuri Narukami are stuck in Inaba for a whole year. However they end up chasing after a killer who is using the Midnight Channel to murder people. After rescuing one of the victims, the Shadow Operatives catch wind of this mystery, and an agent is sent to investigate, her name, Minako Arisato.
1. Chapter 1

Hi there to you all on Fanfiction. I recently just finished Persona 4 Golden and I must say it's an awesome game. I feel like a massive noob for not knowing about the series before. Anyway this idea had been running around in my head for awhile so I thought I should start writing it. So I hope you like it!

Original version was deleted due to bad grammar. I guess being Vietnamese that couldn't be helped. So I send this to a friend to proof read now to make sure I don't make any mistakes again.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Persona series.

I normal life wasn't possible for the Narukami kids apparently. Both Yu Narukami and Yuri Narukami had never stayed in one place for very long for as long as they could remember. Their parents were almost always off on some sort of business trip or another. As a result they never had any close friends. They weren't even close to their parents since they were away so much. Though out most of their lives they only had each other to rely on.

Yu had been staring out of the train window for a while, while Yuri was listening to her music on her iphone. The two of them got quite a few looks when they got on the train, most likely because of their silver hair. They talked a bit about what country life would be like and that strange dream they both had the night before. Something about a blue room with an old man who had a long nose and some sort contract. What was even stranger is that they had the same dream. They guessed that being twins had something to do with it.

"Yo! There you are." man with young girl walked up to them at the train station.

"You two sure have grown quite a bit. Last time I saw you two, you were still in diapers. I'm sure you've already heard but my name is Ryotaro Dojima and this is my daughter, Nanako. Go on say hello." The little girl walked up to them to introduce herself.

"...hello." she said before blushing and hiding back behind her dad.

"Hey there my name is Yu Narukami."

"Hi I'm Yuri Narukami, nice to meet you." Nanako stared blushing even more.

"What have they got you blushing so much for?" The question was followed by a "ow" after Nanako had just smacked him.

Before the twins left for the car, a girl with short black hair walked past them.

"Hey! You dropped this." She was holding a folded piece of paper.

"Thanks." Yuri unfolded to see it was the address and phone number of their uncle's home.

"Whatever, I just picked it up off the ground." The girl sounded annoyed but the twins had no time to think on it since their uncle was calling them into his car.

On the way to the Dojima residence Nanako needed the toilet so they stopped by the gas station to refuel. The gas attendant tried making small talk with them while he was refuelling the car.

"Hey, you kids from big city right?. So what do think you place. There's not really much to do here really. You two will probably hanging out with your friends or working part time. Actually we're looking for part time help right now, so feel free ask us if you need work." The attendant extended his hand to theirs. Yuri was a little hesitant to do so. Something wasn't right with the guy but she shook it anyway out of courtesy. After the guy left the two of them felt a little lightheaded.

"Hey, is something wrong? Are you too carsick?" It seemed Nanako was back from the toilet and Dojima had just finished paying the fee.

"You two must be exhausted from trip. Come on the house isn't that far off."

The neighbourhood seemed quiet and peaceful. Much different than the constant noise of the cities they had been to before. The house itself was decently sized and even had its own small yard. When they got inside the twins suddenly realised they were starving. While they were eating Dojima tried to make conversation.

"So how are your parents these days?"

Yuri didn't answer but instead kept eating with a bitter look on her face. Yu sighed before giving an explanation.

"We don't really know our parnets that well due to their work. They never really had the time to raise us."

"I see, sorry for bringing up the subject. Oh yeah I set up that bunk bed your parents sent, sorry I didn't have an extra room for you two." The thought of sleeping in the same room together just made things awkward for the twins at the table. Dojima sighed again and just decided to stop talking.

The two of them started unpacking in their new room before they grew sleepy. "Take the top bunk." Yuri said suddenly. Yu looked at her with a surprised look.

"I prefer bottom anyway."

"Umm, okay then." They both took their bunks and drifted off to sleep.

So how was it? Please review to let me know.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing.(do I have to put a disclaimer at every chapter or just at the beginning of the story?)

Chapter 2

They found themselves laying down on a long red path that seemed to stretch on forever. They could only open their eyes slightly to see a figure shrouded in fog

"Do you wish to learn the truth?"

"What the..." Yu was trying to get up and get closer look but he didn't have the strength to stand.

"Who..." Yuri felt like all her strength was sapped away by that thing.

"Then try your best to catch it." With that the twins fell unconscious. They woke up at same time trying to figure out what that dream was.

"Hey, are you awake?"

"Hey, are you awake?"

Yuri smiled. This would happen from time to time where they would speak at the same or finish sentences for each other.

"Yu, did you have a dream about some guy shrouded in fog?"

"What the, I had that dream too!"

"What do think this means. I mean first the old man with the creepy long nose and now this. What do you think?"

"I think we're just really tired and need some sleep. We'll talk more in the morning."

"Okay." She was too sleepy talk much more anyway. Before she drifted to sleep however she could have sworn she saw the television turn it self on.

The next morning it was raining and while the two of them were discussing the dream last night before a guy on bicycle rode past them and fell off the bike.

"Let's just leave him be." Yu said nonchalantly. To be late on first day would have bad for them.

"Alright listen up. We got two new transfer students who kicked out of our putrid capital, pretty making them fugitives. Okay you, boy introduce yourself already." Their homeroom teacher sounded like he didn't like students that much

"My name is Yu Naruka-"

"Hold it!, I just saw you eyeing that innocent young girl by the window!. I don't know what kind of place you come from but here we-" the guy continued rant on and on before Yuri couldn't take it anymore.

"Hey, are you sure your a teacher and not a student because you seriously look like you need anger management classes." The whole class had their mouths wide open staring her. Yuri knew she get in trouble for this but she didn't care. This guy knew nothing about her brother and yet he had the nerve to talk to him like he was yesterday's garbage.

_Flashback_

_Yuri was walking with date down the street. At her school she constantly being teased for never having a boyfriend. There were even rumours going around that she was gay. She really was gay but never admitted it for the fear of being considered even more of an outcast._

_So one day she accepted one of the invitations to a date from a guy in the soccer club. The guy suddenly lead her into a dark alley telling her it was a short cut to the restaurant before suddenly she was grabbed by two guys in the shadows. The two men grabbed her arms pushed her to the wall while the third one walk up to her and grabbed her chin_

_"I've been waiting so long for this." Yuri reacted by attempting to kick him the groin but she missed. _

_"Feisty aren't you. Hehehe, I'm going to enjoy you." The guy began tearing her clothes before Yuri closed her eyes and began crying until hearing a familiar voice._

_"Hey asshole!" She opened her eyes and the next thing she saw was Yu Narukami, her brother punching one of the guys holding her arm in the jaw, knocking him out cold._

_"Back off! She's mine" one of them said before pulling out a knife. The other guy who was holding her other arm let go of her and picked up a wooden bat. The guy with the knife charged trying to stab him but Yu grabbed his arm, pulled it past him and kicked him in the nuts. The other one charged with his bat and swung it at him. Yu dodged it before punching him in the jaw knocking him out._

_It was like something right out of a Kung-fu movie. Yuri still couldn't believe what just happened._

_"Yuri, are you okay?" He was standing right in front of her with an extremely worried look on his face._

_"How did you find me?"_

_"Did really think I would let my own sister go on date with another guy on her own?" After that she hugged him. If he wasn't her brother she probably would have kissed him but she have to do with a hug instead. _

_"Come on, lets you fixed up." He put his arm around her and walked her home._

_End Flashback_

From that moment on she swore she would stand by him and defend him, just as he did for her. Even if it was for something as stupid and petty as this. She realised Mr Morooka was yelling at her too but she didn't pay attention to a word he was saying anymore. Before he could continue ranting a girl with short brown hair raised her hand and spoke up.

"Um is it okay if the transfer students sit here?" She was pointing to two empty seats. One next to her and the other next to a girl with long black hair wearing red over her uniform.

"You hear that punks, those are your seats now sit down!".

While walking to her seat she could feel all eyes in class on her. _This was going to be one interesting year_ she thought. Yuri took a look out the window and saw it was quite foggy outside.

Well that's it for now. Hope you like it!.

Also thank you to Arikakun for pointing the flaw in my format causing me to make chapter one easier to read. Arigato! Anyway while you guys wait for the next chapter you should read "Into the Fog" by EnchantedSlytherin. It's where I got the idea for the femprotag being gay. Also it's a hundred times better than my fic.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 3

When the two of them took their seats the short haired girl started talking to them.

"He's the worst huh?. We call him King Moron. Sorry you got stuck in his class for a whole year."

"Shut it you three! Now listen up homeroom's about the begin"

After school the students began to get up and leave before there was an announcement over the PA.

"Attention all students. There has been an incident. Please remain in your seats until further notice."

The twins were talking about what the incident was before two girls walked up to them.

"Hey you guys are the new transfer students right? If your not doing anything after school do you want to come with us? We could show you around town. Oh yeah my name is Chie Satonaka, nice to meet you and this is Yukiko Amagi."

"Sorry if we're pestering you or anything."

"Gezz Yukiko don't apologise like that, it makes me look like I got no upbringing. So you coming?"

"Sure, why not"

"Sure why not"

The girls were a bit taken back by the simultaneous response before a guy with messy brown hair walked to Chie with a DVD box in hand.

"Thanks Chie,loved the movie. Well see ya!" He tried to run before being tripped by Chie and landing on his face outside class. Chie opened the box to find the disk inside had been cracked.

"AH! What the hell? You cracked the disk you tool! How could you do this to my Trial of the Dragon?"

"S-Sorry, I'll pay you back in my next pay check."

"Are you okay?"

"Don't feel sorry for him Yukiko. Lets just leave him be." Chie left the boy to writhe in pain outside the class.

"Bro, remind me never to get her bad side" Yu nodded. Chie Satonaka sure was scary.

Chie seemed disappointed by the lack of an interesting explanation as to why they moved to Inba.

"So you two are just staying here because your parents are working abroad? Man I was hoping it would be something more juicy"

"Don't be rude Chie, rumours already run rampant around this school as it is. We don't really have much to do in the country so gossiping is one favourite pass times our school has" when she finished talking her cell phone started to ring.

"Yes? Oh I see, okay then I'll be there" Yukiko hung up.

"Sorry but I have help at inn again today"

"Inn?"

"Inn?"

"Could you two please stop that it's kinda creepy, but anyway Yukiko's family owns the Amagi Inn which is by far the nicest historical Inn we have in town."

"Chie... It's the only Inn this town has. Well I better go, see ya!" Yukkio left the three to talk about other things until they found themselves near the site of what appeared to be a crime scene.

"Yikes, what happened here?" Just when Chie finished Dojima found them.

"Just what are you kids doing here?"

"what happened here uncle?"

"Huh? Wait, he's your uncle?"

"I'm detective Ryotaro Dojima. For the next year I shall be their guardian. Well I hope you get along with-" He was cut off by someone running past him holding on to his mouth. He went to a nearby bush and started vomiting into it.

"Adachi! How long are you going to keep acting like a rookie? Do you want me to put you back on desk work? HUH!" The man was still coughing up bits of vomit before replying.

"S-Sorry boss." Dojima sighed before turning his attention to the teenagers.

"You three should start heading home." With that they left the scene.

"Alright so how about me and Yukkio show you guys around town tomorrow then?"

"Alright we'll-"

"-see you tomorrow."

"...I don't what's worse, the double response or that."

_Dojima residence_

The top news story that night was that Mayumi Yamano had been found dead hanging off someone's rooftop antenna.

"Killing someone like that is pretty messed up. Right Yuri? hey are you okay?"

" ...I'm fine." Truth be told she was not fine at all. Her left hand was rubbing her forehead trying to suppress the headache she had been having.

"Are you sure? because you don't fine at all"

"It's just a little headache. Nothing to worry about" Yu also had a bit of a headache as well but seeing as he was the master of the poker face he kept it perfectly hidden. In an attempt to change the subject Yuri asked if she could help Nanako wash the dishes.

_The next day_

The twins came down to the smell of some delicious breakfast in the morning.

"Wow, you made this Nanako-chan?"

"Hang on, where's your dad?

"He left for work. He always goes to work early in the morning." The mood suddenly became heavier.

"Well then let's eat."

"It definitely looks better than anything Yuri has ever made." His jest was responded by a slap across the head.

"I told you already. I didn't mean to mix those bowels together. It was an accident." The mood became much lighter during breakfast as Yu told Nanako what Yuri had cooked for him in the past.

On the way to school the twins helped out a boy stuck in a garbage bin. Turns out is was the same boy that cracked Chie's disk yesterday.

"Your both Narukami right? Say do you know what this town is famous for? We make some seriously good beefsteak. I know it sounds kinda lame but its fitting for this place. So why don't I treat you to some as a thank you for helping me out. You guys free later today? Of course you are, your new here. Hey I went through this once too you know."

"You can count me in on that action!" The three turned around to see Chie not far back, waving her DVD box from yesterday in the air.

"This is what you get for breaking my stuff."

Okay I am going to have to stop there because there are a few issues in life that I kinda have resolve. Next chapter should come out in a week or so. Although I will try to get it out sooner.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 4

_Junes food court_

"Hey this isn't steak at all!"

"Yeah well when you jumped on the freeloader train I had to change plans. So what do you two think of the town so far?"

"We'll it's okay but that murder on the rooftop antenna is plain creepy."

"Yeah it is. The murder could live next door."

"Gezz Yosuke, don't joke about stuff like that. It creeps me out. Anyway to change the subject, have you guys heard of the Midnight Channel that's got everybody talking?"

"Midnight Channel?"

"Midnight Channel?"

"Yeah, your supposed to look at your TV that's switched off, alone, exactly at midnight on a rainy night. While you are staring at your own image , another will appear on the screen. That person is apparently you soulmate."

"Oh come on Chie. I can't you still fall for that ridiculous kiddy crap."

"What did you say?"

"See here, this is why you can never nab a boyfr-"

Yosuke didn't finish his sentence when Chie grabbed him by the collar forcing him to apologise. Yuri smirked at the two of them. They bickered like an old married couple.

"Oh hey it's Saki, Saki! Saki!" Yosuke was waving at a girl that looked about their age with slightly curly brown hair.

"Oh hey there Hana-chan." Yosuke went to talk to her.

"Who's that?"

"Who's that?"

"That's Saki Konishi. Her family runs a liquor store in the shopping district. Did you think she was his girlfriend? Ha, he would be happy if she was." Apparently they only work together at Junes though."

"Oh hey are you two the new transfer students?"

"Um yeah that's right."

"We'll see Hana-chan doesn't have many friends, I mean don't get me wrong he's kinda nice but if he starts bugging you then just let me know okay?"

"Well, I err..."

"I'm just joking around."

"Err Saki that really wasn't all that funny."

"Well I'd better get back to work now see you later."

"Saki about that thing I..."

"Oh, sure we can make plans in the next break." Yosuke almost looked like he jumping with joy when Saki said it.

"What's got you so excited?" Yosuke simply smiled and showed Chie a ticket to some kind of event. Chie turned to the twins.

"So do you two think you can watch the Midnight Channel tonight?"

"Sure."

"Sure."

_Dojima residence_

"Next up, more details in the developing story on the incident in foggy Inaba. Announcer Mayumi Yamano's dead body was found hanging above a house in this isolated rural town. It's confirmed that Ms Yamano had been involved in an affair with Taro Namatame, husband of the enka singer Misuzu Hiiragi."

"This is really a bizarre case, isn't it? I mean, hanging someone upside from an antenna like that. If have to say its a warning or a sign from the culprit."

"Yes, but so far no one has forward to take credit for the crime."

_Nearly Midnight_

Since you apparently had to be alone for the Midnight Channel to work, Yuri snuck down into the living room so she could be alone to watch the Midnight Channel.

The clock struck midnight and as Yuri expected nothing appeared. However just as she was getting up to leave the TV turned it self on.

_I don't believe it. The Midnight Channel is actually real?_

The screen was blurry so it was hard to make out who it was. However Yuri determined it was definitely a woman. Yuri smiled at that.

_So, not only is the Midnight Channel real but it's also accurate. _

"Argh." Yuri felt pain on her forehead while a voice spoke to her in her mind.

"I am thou, thou art I, ye who shall open the door."

Yuri tried to stand straight but ended up stumbling towards the TV. Something drew her hand closer to it and she ended putting her hand into the TV. Yuri tried to pull her hand out but she couldn't. Something was pulling her hand inside the TV.

Yuri placed her other hand griping the left side of the TV while putting her left foot at the below the screen. She used all of the strength she could muster ended up pulling her hand out and hitting the floor. She immediately heard a noise from upstairs and run up to see what happened. Yuri found the Nanako at the top on the stairs.

"What's wrong Nanako-chan?"

"I thought I heard a noise."

"It's okay Nanako-chan. I just went downstairs to get a drink that's all."

"Okay." Nanako went back to her room. Yuri went back to the room she was sharing with her brother, only to find him sitting down on the ground rubbing the back of his head.

"What happened to you?" Yuri asked but she had a feeling she knows what happened.

"Well I kinda put my hand through the TV."

"I knew it, it happened to me too."

_I wonder if the same thing happened with Chie and Yosuke?_

"Your hand went into the TV too?"

"Yeah, it also felt like something was pulling my hand inside as well."

"You too? What the hell is going on here?"

"Maybe we just go to sleep, we'll talk with others tomorrow."

_School_

As soon as school was finished the group began discussing what they saw on the Midnight Channel. Yosuke spoke up first.

"Well, did you guys watch the Midnight Channel last night?"

"Yeah I did but mine showed a girl, so does mean that my soulmate is girl?"

"What did she look like?"

"Well, I think she had brown hair and I think it was slightly curly..."

"Huh, I think that's who I saw as well."

"What, we both saw the same person? Well what about you two, who did see on the Midnight Channel."

Yu and Yuri told them about their experience about putting their hands into the TV.

"I think you guys probably just fell asleep in front of your TVs and dreamt it."

"Oh that reminds me, my family is thinking of buying a new TV soon."

"Okay then, lets head to Junes. Maybe one of our big screens can fit you guys in. Hahaha."

_Junes electronics section_

"Man these expensive. So Yosuke, do you think you can use your connections and cut me deal?"

"Of course I cannot. Oh I haven't told you guys yet. My dad happens the be the manager of this store. Just like you guys I also transferred here from Tokyo. I think that was almost six months ago."

"Junes does make life easier but most of the shops in the shopping district are pretty empty now."

"Don't say that stuff straight to my face!"

"Would you prefer I said behind you back?" While the the two of them bickered Yu and Yuri tried to find out if it really was a dream. It turns out it wasn't as their hands went through the screen gaining shocked looks from Chie and Yosuke.

"What the, how are guys doing it? Whats the magicians secret?"

"This is totally freaky!" Their curiosity got the better of the twins as they put their heads in the TV. Before they could pull themselves out they fell in with Chie and Yosuke behind them.

The four of them fell into what looked like some kind movie set or something. There was fog everywhere and there were silhouettes of people all over the ground.

"Where the hell are we?"

"I think we're inside the TV." Even in a situation like this, Yu could keep a straight face. Even Yuri was surprise at his ability to remain completely calm.

"Don't just stand completely calm while your giving me crazy talk."

"Oh man, this hurts too much not to be real. I think I busted my ass."

"Err guys, what it that?" Yuri pointed to figure in the fog that was headed towards them. None of want to stick around to find out, so they ran up the nearest stairs to get away from it.

They ended inside a creepy room with faceless posters all over the walls and there even a rope hanging from the ceiling with a scarf tied in a noose.

"Oh god this is too much. I need to take a piss now." Yosuke ran to a corner of the room.

"What? You can't pee in here it's someone's room. Narukami could you please stop him?"

"Huh, why would I do that?"

"Look I can't go with you standing there."

"Your unbelievable, like I wanted to watch you anyway." Chie walked out of the room after which Chie let out a scream. The others ran out to find that she was staring at a, well thing. None of them could tell what it was so Yuri decided to question it, that is if could speak at all.

"Who are you?"

"Grr I could ask you the same thing."

"Do you live here or something?"

"Of course, I am a bear. Geez I've lived here since bearever!"

"Hey what is this thing? It is beyond creepy." Yosuke's voice was getting a bit loud which caused the bear to shrink back and cover its ears.

"Hey come on keep your voices down. Now go, get out of here run along back to your world before you die!" The bear looked frightened and started looked behind himself.

"Here, you two take these and just go. The shadows, the shadows will..."

The bear had given the twins a pair of glasses each. They put them on and astonished to find that with glasses on it looked like the fog wasn't even there anymore.

"Oh no, there here!" The bear took off. Yu could see something coming out of one of the walls in the distance. It was some kind of black blob with a small blue mask. Two of them moved towards the group before hovering up and morphing into big ball tongue monster thing. The group ran down to away while the monsters gave chase.

The four of them got outside when even more of those things showed up. There were about seven in all and they surrounded the four of them. There was no escape, no where left to run and they all thought they going to die. The monsters charged for the kill when Yu and Yuri heard a familiar voice.

"I am thou, thou art I, thoust has opened thy eyes, the time, is NOW!"

Blue light began to emanate from the two of them as they stared a card that was rotating in front of each of them.

"Per...so...na."

"Per...so...na."

They crushed the cards and which each let out a burst of near blinding light. They felt a strange power coursing though each if them as a creature appeared behind each of the twins. Behind Yu a creature appeared that looked humanoid with a silver helmet with glowing yellow eye and wore a black trench coat with a grey shirt underneath. It's weapon was a staff like thing with a long blade at the end of it.

Behind Yuri a creature appeared that was also humanoid and hers was definitely a female. It was similar to the other with a few differences. The helmet was sleeker, sharper and was gold. The trench coat was white instead of black and it's eyes glowed red. The weapon was a sword and its blade was decorated with jewels.

The light began to die down when the monsters attacked the creatures that appeared. Yu's creature kicked one down and killed it while Yuri's flew towards the monsters and killed three by slicing though them. One tried to attack it from behind but Yu's had stabbed it through the back before it could reach Yuri's. Yu looked at one of the monsters and one word went through his mind.

_Izanagi_

A lightning bolt came from the sky and destroyed one of the shadows. Yuri looked at the last one and one word went her mind as well.

_Izanami_

The creature's sword suddenly was covered in electricity and stabbed the final monster, electrifying it at the same time, causing it to explode.

The creatures soon disappeared and the twins could only look at each other. Wondering what had just happened.

Authors Note: battle scenes are worst to write in my opinion.

I just realised that my Izanami description is basically a female version of Izanagi-no-Okami. LOL.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own the Persona series.

Chapter 5

All four of them stood in shock. One minute, death was imminent and the next they were alive and well. It was almost if a god had saved them. Yosuke went to twins, asking for an explanation about what happened.

"Wow! That was incredible! How to do guys do that? W-What did you call those things? A Persona?"

"I don't know-"

"-what happened, I just-"

"-moved on instinct." The twins had no idea what happened but they knew they had just obtained some kind of power as they felt a strange energy coursing through there bodies.

"Look, who cares what happened! Lets just get out of here before more of those things come back!" Chie yelled.

"Okay but how?" The group thought for a moment before something popped in all their minds.

"The bear!"

They retraced their steps to find the place where they landed, hoping that the bear would be there. Lucky for them the bear was there. Chie ran up to it first, eager to get out as soon as possible.

"Hey you, bear thing!"

"Huh, What the? You guys are still alive?"

"Yeah we are. Okay look, you seem like you know this place pretty well. So we were hoping you find us a way out of here?" Yosuke also wanted to get out as soon as possible.

"That's not important right now, what did you do to the shadows?"

"They absolutely slaughtered them." Yosuke said, pointing to the twins.

"You two, but how?"

"Well, we really don't know."

"Well, we really don't know."

"You don't know? Interesting." The bear looked like it was thinking for moment before stamping one foot on the ground. Three old looking TVs appeared behind him.

"What the?"

"Are those TVs?"

"I have connected these TVs to the closest exit. So you guys should come out the same way you came in. Now go, get out of here." The bear ran behind them and started to push them all inside the TVs.

_Junes, Electronics section_

The four of them came out of the TV, sprawled over the floor. It was a miracle nobody saw them come out of the TV. When Yosuke and Chie realised they were back at Junes, they hugged each other. Which was followed by Chie hitting him in the stomach with her knee.

"Don't take advantage of the situation you big perv." Yosuke was groaning in pain on the floor.

"Guys, you might want to look at this." Yu was standing in front of a poster of Misuru Hiiragi. Chie looked at it and gasped.

"Oh this was in that room. With all those faceless posters in it."

"Why would there be faceless posters of her in that world in the first place?" Said Yu.

"Please stop! I don't think my poor heart can take this anymore!" Yosuke was holding onto his crotch. Apparently he didn't piss his pants in the battle against the shadows.

"Look, we'll talk more of this tomorrow okay, bye." Yosuke ran off to the closest bathroom. Chie agreed and walked home.

_The Velvet Room_

Yu and Yuri found themselves in that blue room once again. Except this time they could see each other.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." Greeted Igor. The twins were utterly confused. Weren't they they fast asleep moments ago?

"Do not be alarmed. I summoned you two, from within your dreams." It was as if he read their minds. The woman beside him, they remembered her name was Margret, began to speak.

"Only those who have formed a contract of sorts can visit this room. You two have a glorious job in awakening your powers."

"Take these with you." Said Igor as two keys began to float down to the table in front of Igor

"These are Velvet Keys. From this night in, you two are now welcomed guests in the Velvet Room. Your persona ability is that of the Wild Card. It is unique unto itself. Just like the number zero, it holds an infinite number of possibilities." Margret explained.

"Two wild cards users. How very interesting. I wonder where your newly awakened powers of the Wild Card will take you." Igor sounded like he was more pleased then interested.

"I believe I shall be accompanying you two on this journey. Well then, until we meet again." Everything faded to black for them.

_ Outside the school gates_

Chie and Yukiko were about to walk through the school gates before a strange person walked up to Yukiko.

"Hello Yuki. I've been waiting all for you." He looked like he had standing in the rain all morning. His clothes were completely soaked, they were also a uniform from another school and his eyes looked strange, almost like fish.

"Come on Yuki, let's go somewhere together. Just the two of us."

"Hey, back off! Your being a creep." Though the guy seemed to ignore Chie.

"Well, are you coming with me or not?"

"N-No, I'm not going." Yukiko thought he was going to get violent for a second but he ran off muttering to himself.

He ran past Yosuke, Yu and Yuri as they went up to greet their friends.

"Umm, who was that?" Asked Yosuke. "Didn't look like he was wearing Yasogami uniform."

"He was just another guy who asked Yukiko out for a date."

"Man your cruel Yukiko-san, you got the same way last year."

"I don't remember doing that."

"Well, in that case, do you want hang out with me sometime?"

"I'd rather not."

Yosuke sighed. "Well that will teach me to get my hopes up. No worries though, I got my sights set on someone else."

Yuri interrupted the conversation. "Come on, we should get moving or else were going to be late."

_School Gym_

The entire school had been called out for an assembly in the gym. Yukiko wasn't there because she had been called out to help at the Inn right before the assembly. She was asked to bring a friend if she could to help out as well. The Inn was willing to pay whoever Yukiko bought along. Yuri decided to go with her. Chie wanted to go too but with her current grades she thought it would be best if didn't start skipping school.

The principal walked on stage to give out the announcement.

"This morning, one of our students had passed away. It was Saki Konishi of class 3-2." Instantly the students began murmuring against themselves. Yu and Chie looked at Yosuke who had a look of horror and disbelief on his face. The principal continued speaking.

"When asked by not only to the police but to anyone who asks, I urge you to provide only facts."

When the assembly ended the students began to leave and already rumours were spreading about Saki Konishi died.

Yosuke stopped walking when the three of them were alone in a school corridor. Yu and Chie didn't speak. They had no idea what they could say to him at a time like this. After a while Yosuke spoke.

"Did you guys watch the Midnight Channel last night?" Chie was surprised at his question.

"What, why are you talking about that now?" The Midnight Channel wasn't a topic they expected Yosuke talk about at the moment.

"Let me finish, damnit!" Snapped Yosuke.

"Listen, after what happened yesterday I had to watch it again. I think it was Saki-senpai on the channel. It looked like she was writhing in pain." Yosuke paused for a moment before continuing.

"Remember what one on the guys in our class said? He said he saw Ms Yamano on the Midnight Channel. I think that whoever shows up on that channel...ends up dead."

Yu was beginning to understand what Yosuke was saying.

"So you think, that they died in the world inside the TV, right?" Chie however was still confused.

"Wait a minute you guys, how does that make sense?" Yosuke's eyes turned to Chie.

"Chie, do you remember that room we saw in the TV world? The one with faceless posters of Misuru Hiiragi in it. Who do you think hates Misuru Hiiragi, Taro Namatame's wife, so much that there would be posters of her in that world with her face ripped off on each and every on of them?" Yu answered the question before Chie could.

"Ms Yamano."

Yosuke nodded. "After what I have seen and what I put together I can't just ignore 's a killer out there and he using that world to kill people. I just know it."

"Yosuke maybe we should let the police-"

"Do you really think the police can handle this? They don't know about the other world and they will never believe us if we tell them." Yosuke sighed and turned his head to one of the windows and looked up at the clouds.

"I am going to go and check out that world after school. For senpai's sake."

_Junes, electronics section_

Yu and Chie found Yosuke standing in front of the TV they went in last time. A piece of rope was tied to him as well.

"Yosuke, are you absolutely sure about this?" Chie still thought this whole thing was a bad idea. No one could really blame her though, considering what happened last time they were in there.

Yu decided to go with Yosuke. He was the only there who could combat the Shadows. Yuri wasn't there with them since she called Yu earlier and told him she would be staying at the Amagi Inn for the night.

"Really man? Thanks, appreciate it." Truthfully, Yosuke hoped he would come with him. He didn't know what he would do if a shadow attacked him in that world.

"Chie, hold this end of the rope okay. This way if get lost we can find our way back using the rope." Yosuke turned to the TV with Yu beside him.

"Alright man, you ready?"

"Yeah." Yu put on the glasses the bear had given them. They both entered the TV.

_TV world_

They did in fact land in the same spot as last time. When they got up they found that bear had waiting for them.

"Ah ha! So it is you after all."

"What? Oh it's that bear thing again."

"Lately someone has been throwing people in here before the fog clears up."

"When does it clear up?" Asked Yu.

"When it gets foggy on your side then that's when the fog lifts over here and the shadows get really violent. You two have figured out a way to come here on your own haven't you? So if you wanted you could throw people in here too, so clearly you guys are the culprits!" The accusation that they were the killers just pissed Yosuke off.

"What! Listen here bear. If anyone was dragging people into this world then it's probably you. Now take off the ridiculous costume and show us who you really are!" Yosuke jumped at the bear and unzipped the head off. Yosuke jumped back startled. There was nothing inside. It was completely hollow.

"Whoa, what the hell!?"

"Huh, there's nothing inside." Yu walked to the bear and put its head back on.

"Thanks a lot nice guy."

"Dude does anything rattle you?"

"Okay look, I'll believe that you guys aren't the ones chucking people in here." The sudden change seemed odd to Yosuke.

"Wait, why the change of heart all of a sudden?"

"However in exchange you guys have to find out who really behind this. PLEASE! I just want live in peace and quiet again. Please promise me you'll find the guy."

"Now why in world would we ever promise tha-"

"We'll do it." Yu's answer received a shocked look from Yosuke.

"Wait, really man?"

Yu nodded. "Why not, I feel sorry for the little guy."

Yosuke scratched the back of his head. "Your one insanely nice guy, you know that. Alright I'm in too, but one condition, you have to help to help us out too you freaky bear."

"Sure, I'll help however I can but I can't fight the shadows."

"What? Really? Well I guess that's not surprising since your hollow inside. Oh yeah, do you have a name?"

"Teddie."

"Well I guess I should have seen that coming." Yosuke reached for his phone and showed Teddie a picture of Saki.

"Can you show me where you last saw her?"

"Sure, follow me. Oh and I made another pair of glasses just incase more people came in here." Teddie handed Yosuke the glasses and then showed them the way.

They ended up in a place that looks very similar, if not exactly the same as the Inaba shopping district, Yosuke tapped Teddie's head to speak to it.

"Teddie, do you know why this place looks like the way it does?"

"Well I'm really not sure but new areas have been forming when people are thrown in here. Maybe that has something to do with it? Anyway the last time I saw that girl was right over there." Teddie pointed to a place near the end of the shopping district.

"That's Saki-senpai's house!" Yosuke ran towards it. As they got closer they could hear voices of other people talking to each other. Yosuke was the first to rush into the place.

Upon entering he could hear the voice of Saki's dad talking.

_"How many times do I have to tell you Saki? Our family has poured blood, sweat and tears into Konishi Liquors. How dare you take a part-time job at Junes!"_

"Is that her dad? How come I can hear him but I can't see him?" Yosuke looked down and saw the ticket he gave her. Except it had been torn up.

"What, why would she tear it up?"

_"I could never tell him..."_ It was Saki's voice this time.

"Saki is that you? Saki! Saki! Answer me, where are you!?" Yosuke frantically looked around hoping she would appear alive and well.

_"...but I think Hana-chan..."_

"Wait, what about me?"

_"...I think he's a pain in the ass! I was only nice to him because his dad was the manger at Junes, but he took it the wrong way and now the idiot totally thinks I like him."_

_"I don't care about Junes, same goes for the shopping district or my parents, I wish everyone would just die!"_

Yosuke's knees hit the ground and he began to clutch on the sides of his head. "Shut up! Stop lying! Saki would never say that.

Yu and Teddie entered the store then they heard another voice from the shadows.

**"Hahahahaha. It's so sad. Nobody understands you, but the truth is your the ones who finds everyone and everything to be a pain in the ass!"** They looked at where the voice was coming from. They all gasped when they saw him. It was another Yosuke.

**"That's because, your me." **

"There's two of him?" Yu whispered.

"Who are you?" Asked Yosuke

**"I'm you of course."**

"No way, your me?"

**"Which means that I know everything about you. You made everyone believe you came here looking for Saki. What a load bullshit. Truth is you only came because you were looking for some fun. What else is there to do in this backward shithole town."**

"N-No your wrong, that isn't true at all." However from the sound Yosuke's voice, what the other one was saying was at least partially true.

**"You were thinking there a chance you might get lucky and become a hero. The death of your beloved Saki was just the excuse you needed to make the trip. Hahahaha."**

"Just, stop spouting crap! Who the hell are you!?"

**"I am shadow, of your true inner self. I am your shadow."**

"Shut up! You are so not me!" The moment Yosuke said that, red and black energy began to form around the other Yosuke.

**"Nice! Keep going, come on say it again."** The shadow was taunting Yosuke for some reason

"You're not me, YOU'RE NOT ME!"

**"Hahahahahahahaha, yeah your right, I'm my own self now. I ain't you at all!"** The energy fully engulfed the shadow and he turned into some kinda of frog-ninja monster.

It raised one of its hands to attack Yosuke. Yu pushed him down out of the the way. Damnit. Izanagi, I need you. Not a moment later a blue card floated down towards him. Yu reached his hand out to crush it.

"Persona!"

Izanagi jumped at the shadow and tried to slash it but it jumped out of the way. Izanagi gave chase. Yosuke wasn't paying attention for he was still trying to deny what the shadow had said.

"No, that jerk he isn't me, we're nothing alike."

"That jerk you speak of comes from a place inside your heart Yosuke." Said Teddie, trying to help Yosuke understand the situation.

"No it doesn't!"

**"Hahaha. You put on good show of being carefree and happy go lucky, but your terrified if being alone."** Izanagi took his chance to attack but the shadow grabbed him and threw him to a wall.

That was when Yu realised that whatever pain the Persona felt, could be felt through the user too.

"No, that isn't me!" Yosuke tried to run out of there. "You don't know me at all!" The shadow blocked his path and smacked him, sending him flying into Yu and Teddie.

Teddie looked around and saw that other shadows were coming through the ground and walls.

"Oh no, he's beginning to attract The other shadows, they're coming! Sensei you have to something. If you don't stop this, things are going to get grizzly real quick."

Izanagi turned his head to Yosuke. **"Human, you must accept it or else everyone here dies."** The fact Izanagi could speak shocked them all. That shock wore off quickly however.

Shadows came out of the walls and began to attack Izanagi, while the Yosuke's shadow continued to taunt Yosuke.

**"You know that everyone can just barely tolerate you and yet you still try and pretend that everyone's your friend. How pathetic!"**

"No! Stop it, your wrong, wrong wrong, I'm not like that!"

**"Your better off dead!"**

"Izanagi!" Yu yelled as punched Yosuke. At the same time Izanagi punched out the Shadow.

"Ow. What's wrong with you man?"

Yu went straight to the point. "You liked her right?"

"What?"

"I mean Saki."

"Yeah, actually I loved her."

Yu extended his hand to help Yosuke up. "Then isn't that proof enough?"

"Huh, yeah... I guess your right." Yosuke walked towards the shadow.

"So that's a part of me huh? Well if in gonna be honest, all of this is part of me." With those words the shadow grew weaker. It looked like it was in pain.

**"Argh, you are so freaking annoying!"**

"Something's wrong with him, take him out, quickly!" Teddie yelled. Izanagi raised his hand towards the shadow.

"Izanagi!"

A lightning bolt came down and struck the shadow, destroying its monster form. Yosuke walked to it and put his hand on the shadow's shoulder.

"You are a part of me...and I am a part if you." The shadow nodded and disappeared into blue light. It was replaced with another being. It looked similar to the shadow but more human and less menacing.

**"That is his persona.**" Izanagi said before disappearing.

Yosuke's persona turned into a card and floated downwards. Yosuke touched it and it disappeared as he felt a kind of power flow within him. He turned to face Yu.

"I owe you my life man. Thanks."

Yosuke collapsed from exhaustion. They needed to leave before more shadows returned.

_Junes, electronics section_

Yu and Yosuke came through the TV to find Chie bawling her eyes out.

"You, you came back!" She picked up the rope and threw it at Yosuke.

"The rope snapped as soon as you guys left and I've been worried sick this whole time. I'm so pissed at you right now. I can't believe you guys put me through that. I hate you both!" Chie ran off trying to wipe the tears from her eyes.

Yosuke sighed. "I think that kinda, may have, sort of, been out fault. I'll make it up to her tomorrow. We should get home. It's been a long day.

_Dojima residence_

Yu was watching the news that night. There was a news report about an interview at the Amagi Inn. It was Yukiko who was being interviewed. She was wearing a pink kimono and looked very nervous.

"_Is it true that Ms Yamano was staying at your family inn before her death?"_

_"Y-Yes, she was."_

_"You look good in that kimono."_

_"What? I err..."_

_Poor girl._ Yu thought. He was getting up to help Nanako wash the dishes before he heard a familiar voice.

_"Okay that's it! Interview is over. Leave now!"_

Yuri was on the screen. She was wearing a grey kimono and was trying to push the reporters away from Yukiko.

_"Oh and who might you be?" _Yuri looked at the camera with fire in her eyes.

_"The one who will kick your ass if you don't leave!"_

_I'd wager 15 seconds before she really does follow though on her threat. _It turns out it only took 9 seconds before she took a swing at a reporter. After which she dragged Yukiko back inside the inn.

Yu sighed. _Good thing uncle isn't here to see this._

_Midnight_

It was midnight and Yu was watching the Midnight Channel. This time however two figures appeared. They both wore kimonos and one if them looked a bit like Yukiko. Yu couldn't tell for sure. However the other one Yu could never mistake for anyone else. Yu had no doubt in his mind, one of the people who appeared on the Midnight Channel...was Yuri.

Authors Note: I made the personas talk in this story because I never understood why a shadow could talk but not a persona. I may be able to get the next chapter out faster thanks to a sudden increase in my free time. Please review.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Authors Note: review reply.

BigBossVince: From my understanding a persona is a personality in physical form. So Yuri's Izanami persona is not the actual goddess. As to why I named it Izanami, that's because in Japanese mythology the goddess Izanami is Izanagi's sister. So I felt it was appropriate to name it that for her given persona.

Chapter 6

Yu woke up the next morning with feelings of dread. He got up and typed Yuri a text.

_Are you okay? Please reply._

Yu sighed._ I hope she's okay._

Breakfast was eaten in silence. Nanako saw Yu looked worried about something.

"Are you okay?"

"Huh, oh I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You don't look too good."

"No really, I'm fine Nanako-chan."

Nanako didn't seem convinced but decided to drop the subject.

_Samegawa flood plain_

Yu was walking to school still worried about his sister when he got a text. It was from Yuri.

_Yeah I'm okay. Why do you ask? By the way, Yukiko-san and me won't be at school today. Super busy at the Inn. Gotta go back to work._

Yu let out a sigh of relief. _Thank god she's okay, but I I know I saw her on the Midnight Channel last night. What's going in?_

Yu typed her another text.

_Will explain in person. Keep your guard up and keep those glasses you were given at all times. Just incase. _

When Yu sent the text, Yosuke came up behind him.

"Hey man. You texting someone?"

"My sister. Telling her to be safe."

"Oh yeah, I... I think saw your sister and Yukiko-san on the Midnight Channel last."

"Yeah, I did too, but they're both still in this world so what does that mean?"

"They are? Hmm, guess we should check it again tonight."

Yosuke paused for second. "Thanks again, for yesterday I mean. I don't what would have happened if you weren't there."

"Don't mention it."

Yosuke nodded. "If someone is really throwing people in that world then can't just ignore it. We need to know who's doing it. Then we got to find a way to stop them."

"We promised that we would."

"Well you did anyway. You know with you around, I feel we might just be able to catch this guy."

Yosuke extended his hand to Yu. "You in? I'll be counting on ya." Yu shook his hand and time seemed to stop for a second. New strength seemed to flow within him. He could feel his persona getting stronger as well.

"Well come on man. We're gonna end up late if we keep chatting." Time flowed again and Yu walked behind Yosuke, confused as to what just happened.

_Amagi Inn_

Yuri and Yukiko were dealing with the massive group of people that showed up without a reservation when time stopped for Yuri. Power seemed flow into her as she felt rejuvenated. She could feel her persona grow stronger as well. Before she knew it, time flowed again. _What in the world just happened_?

Yasogami High

Chie entered class looking extremely worried.

"Hey guys have you seen Yukiko anywhere?" Yu calmed her down.

"It's okay, my sis sent me a text saying that she and Yukiko-san won't be at school today because of the inn."

"Wait they're okay? But I thought I saw..."

"Yeah I know. Which is why we're gonna go to Junes after school and ask Teddie if he's seen anything."

"Teddie?"

"Oh right, Teddie is the name of that bear thing we saw." Yosuke explained.

"Okay then. Oh yeah, you guys haven't told me what happened when in there."

_Junes, electronics section_

The group were looking at the TV they used as an entrance to the world inside the TV. They could not enter however because there were too many people around.

"Hey try sticking your hand in there to get Teddie's attention." Yosuke whispered as he and Chie stood at the sides to prevent any unwanted attention.

Yu stuck his hand in and felt something crunch on fingers. He pulled it out to find teeth marks on it.

"Hey are you okay?" Chie asked.

"I might be dying."

"Hmm, no your not." Chie said , making a face.

They all heard Teddie's voice from within the TV. "Hey are guys there? What's up, is it same kind if game."

Yosuke put his head closer to the TV. "Psst, Teddie is anyone over there right now?"

"Who's "anyone"?. No of course not. I'm all by my bearsome. You could say I'm a beary lonesome boy.

"We get it!" Chie snapped. "Are you sure no ones there with you right now?"

"No, I'm not telling tales! I am one hundred percent, beary sure that no one else is here right now."

"Alright, thanks Ted." Chie whispered before turning to Yu.

"This is strange. People appeared on the Midnight Channel yesterday, but Teddie says no ones there. So what does that mean?"

Yu looked down before responding. "I say tonight, we check it out again."

_Dojima Residence_

"Hey, welcome home." Nanako greeted, as Yu came in. She looked past him to see that no one was behind him. "She's not home today?"

"Huh?"_ She must mean Yuri._

"Wait, so she's not here either?" Nanako shook her head.

"Has something bad happened?"

"What, of course not Nanako-chan. She's probably at a friends house or something."_ Is she still at the inn right now? _

"Well... okay then." Nanako went back into the living room to watch some more TV. Yu pulled out his phone to call Yuri. No one was answering. _She must be busy or something. That or she really has been kidnapped. Looks like I have no choice but to wait for the Midnight Channel again._

_Midnight_

The screen turned on showing Yukiko. However she was wearing a pink medieval looking dress that was decorated with roses. The image was extremely clear and Yukiko looked like she was safe.

"Good evening! Tonight, Princess Yukiko has a big surprise. I'm gonna score myself a hot stud. It's Princess Yukiko's Hunt for her Prince Charming!" A flashy title screen appeared. Yu was getting completely flustered. _She looks like Yukiko but she doesn't seem like the type to do something like this. _

"I came prepared. My lacy unmentionables, there ready to go, and so is my..." Yukiko then made a heart shape on the screen with her hands. "...heart."

"I'm gonna score myself so many studs I could start my own host club! Well, time to go." Yukiko ran off to what looked like a big castle. The screen turned off.

Yu was still staring at the screen. Unable to comprehend was he had seen. The sound of his phone going off interrupted his thoughts. It was Yosuke, they exchanged numbers so they could contact each other about the Midnight Channel.

"Dude, d-did you see what I saw?"

"Yeah I did."

"What was that about? "Score myself a hot stud," thats something Yukiko-san would never say."

"Yeah, also... Yuri wasn't on the channel tonight."

"Yeah that was odd. Damnit, what's going on here!?"

"Calm down. We should talk about this tomorrow at Junes." Yu sounded calm but inside he was worried about Yuri. _Why wasn't Yuri on the channel? Has she already been... No! I can't lose her! I... can't. _Yu tried to shake those thoughts out of his head as he went to sleep.

_Yukiko's Castle _

Yuri found her self on a hard surface when she woke up. _What the? Is this a part of the Inn? _She found herself looking at massive windows in a long corridor. Yukiko was beside her, still not awake yet.

"Yukiko-san, hey Yukiko-san, get up." Yuri said as she shook Yukiko's shoulders to wake her up.

"Huh, Yuri-san? What are you doing?" Yukiko gasped when she looked around.

"Wh-Where are we?" Yukiko asked as she looked around. That when Yuri realised there was fog in the area._ It can't be, could it?_

Yuri took out the glasses she kept with her and sure enough, she fog disappeared from her vision._ It can't be, we're really here?_

"What's with the glasses?"

"Oh these?" Yuri took of the glasses and handed them to Yukiko.

"Here put these on." Yukiko took them and put them on. Her eyes widened when realised see through the fog.

"Yuri-san, do you know where we are?"

"Yes." Yuri preceded to explain what had happened when she entered the TV world the first time. Surprisingly, Yukiko believed every word.

"So your saying we were thrown in by somebody?"

"It's the only reason I can think of. I'm pretty sure I would remember if I just accidentally fell in. Wait you believe me?"

"Of course. I don't really have a better expla- huh?" Yukiko saw something behind Yuri.

"Get down!" Yukiko pushed Yuri down as a monster flew past their heads. It looked like the same kind of shadow Yuri fought before. I need you Izanami. The blue card came floating down and Yuri reach reached out and crushed it. Izanami appeared and sliced the shadow in half when it attacked. More shadows came though the walls and attacked.

Izanami shot a lightning attack through her hand and destroyed one, however that allowed a shadow to sneak behind her and smash Izanami to the ground.

Yuri felt the impact of that. _Damn, so I can feel its pain._ After a lot of hacking, slashing and electrifying, the battle was finally over. When it was, Yuri felt something had changed within Izanami. She felt it had become stronger.

**"The more I kill, the stronger I become." **Izanami's words caused Yuri and Yukiko to jump slightly.

"Y-Y-You can T-Talk?" Yuri stuttered.

**"Yes. There is no time to waste. I must get you to safety immediately. Come."** Izanami floated forward, trying to lead the two of them to safety. After turning a few corners, they found themselves in a large square room. There was nothing in the room at all but Yuri decided it was better than open corridor where they could ambushed by more shadows.

"Izanami, guard the door. Yukiko-san and I will take a break for a while. Izanami nodded as Yuri and Yukiko sat down, leaning on one of the walls. A silence fell between them. With one not knowing what to say to other. After awhile, Yukiko spoke up.

"So, err, Yuri-san... do you think you could tell me a bit about yourself?"

"What? Yukiko-san, do you really think this is the time or place?"

"Well, we do have time and there really is nothing else to do is there? Besides, you did save my life so I would like to know more about you, if that's okay, that is."

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt. Nothing to do like you said. Hmm, where do I start? Well, I actually used to be a lot like you, you know?"

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, I used to shy, reserved and very popular with the boys."

"Did you ever have a boyfriend?"

"No." Yuri said in a serious tone. "I've never had one because I..." Yuri was looking down, seemingly in deep thought.

"I sorry I shouldn't have asked such a personal question, I-"

"No, it's okay. You see... I've never had one because I don't swing that way."

Yukiko gasped and her eyes widened. "You mean your..."

"Yes. I'm gay." Yuri looked away, not wanting to look at Yukiko in the eye. A silent moment passed between them.

"Wow that's... quite interesting actually."

"What!?" Yuri turned to face Yukiko. That certainly wasn't the reaction I was expecting.

"You see, out here we grow up being taught that gays were much more... flamboyant and well, dangerous to our society. I've never believed any of it though. I am sure Chie doesn't either. Well, you seem so much more normal than the stereotypical gay that the public always seem to think they act like."

"Yukiko-san..."

Yukiko shook her head. "Just "Yukiko" is fine with me."

"Really? Thanks, and of course you can just call me Yuri." They were both smiling before time stopped for Yuri again. It was just like last time, strength seemed to pour into her and Izanami. Yuri, suddenly feeling a lot better stood up.

"Come on, I think we should keep moving."

"Yeah." Yukiko stood up and handed the glasses back to Yuri. Yuri looked confused as to why she was doing this.

"You need these more than I do."

"Hang on, what about you?"

"It's okay." Yukiko then suddenly moved closer to Yuri. Closer than was comfortable for Yuri's sake. "I'm sure that I'll be just fine if I stick close to you." Yuri looked away, she could feel her face heating up.

"Your doing this on purpose, aren't you?" Yukiko's only response was a smile.

Authors Note: Crap this took longer than expected since the scene with Yukiko and Yuri went through a few rewrites. Even in this version I'm sure some people will think Yukiko is slightly out of character. Oh well, please review. :)


	7. Chapter 7

Authors Note: I am really sorry for such a late update on this. Other things have been on my mind for a while. Its like God hates me or something, that kinda gives me an idea for an Angel Beats fanfic... again, I'm really sorry for the lateness of the this.

Disclaimer: nothing is owned by me.

Chapter 7

_Junes Food Court_

Yu was in the process of making a another origami crane. There were at least a dozen of them on the table.

"Hey Yu-kun!"

Yosuke showed up and pulled out a katana and an aikuchi from his back.

"Check these out man!"

"Yosuke, are sure you should have brought those here?"

"Relax, there just fakes. Go on, pick your poison!"

"Pick my what?"

"Then again, I would be a badass with both." He swung the blades around then for some reason he then licked and katana blade causing Yu to arch an eyebrow.

"I've just come across two suspicious teenage boys wielding a couple of swords." The sound of a police officer's voice caused Yosuke drop the swords as a police officer came up and forced his hands behind his back.

"You'll be coming with me."

"Hey, this isn't what it looks like. My buddy here, we're huge swords fanatics." Yosuke tried to desperately explain the situation.

"Speak for yourself." More police officers came in to arrest them. Yu sighed. _Yosuke you idiot._

_Inaba Police Station_

"What were you thinking? Don't go around stirring up trouble." Adachi said, scolding Yu and and Yosuke after they were both released.

"We're really sorry this happened." Yu apologised then sighed. They saw Chie standing near the exit looking worried.

"Hey is there something wrong Chie?" Yosuke asked, sounding a little worried himself.

"It's about Yukiko and Yuri-san... they've gone missing!"

"What?!"

"What?!"

"They were at the inn yesterday, I checked, but since then, no ones seen them at all. I've asked around everywhere."

"Oh we already know about this Yukiko's family has asked us to look for Yukiko. Is she your friend?"

"Yeah."

"Then do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Umm, okay." Adachi pulled out a little blue notebook and began flicking through pages.

"Have you seen anything unusual happening lately? Did she seem bothered by anything?"

"Like what?"

Adachi continued to flick through his note book.

"The murder at the inn. It seems Ms Yamano was such a high maintenance guest that Yukiko's mom collapsed from the stress of keeping her happy. So, there's that." Adachi looked around before lowering his voice.

"See the rumour here is: Yukiko's hiding out because she did something to get back at Ms Yamano for her mother."

No sooner than had Adachi finished talking, Chie exploded with rage.

"WHAT?! You think Yukiko's the killer?!"

"Woah, relax will you?" Adachi said, raising his arms defensively. "It's just a theory floating around."

"Well it's lame!" Chie would've strangled Adach if not for Yu and Yosuke who held her back at the last second. Chie continued to struggle as the two boys held her in place. Detective Dojima's voice rang through the air.

"Hey! What's going on here?!"

Chie stopped struggling and when she spoke, her voice dropped in volume. "Yukiko...she would never..." Tears began to flow down her face.

Dojima quietly sighed. He turned to his head to Adachi. "What did tell them?"

"I just...nothing." Adachi replied, knowing he would be major trouble if he told him.

The three of them left the station. Just before Yu walked out the doors however, he swore he could have heard the sound of someone getting smacked.

Chie walked ahead of the boys and turned around, her face full of determination.

"Listen guys, we have to save them."

_Yukiko's Castle_

Yuri and Yukiko continued to climb up the stairs of the castle. The castle was huge and there seemed to be an endless amount if shadows in there. Yukiko stuck close to Yuri at all times because of the fog. However, the higher they went, the lighter the fog seemed to be. Izanami tried to break through a window at one point, but it ended up with Izanami being smashed into a wall by an invisible force. Yuri definitely was not eager to try that again.

They found themselves in need of rest again because Yuri's back was aching due Izanami's stunt.

"I am sorry master." Izanami apologised.

"It's okay, no permanent damage." Izanami nodded and floated upwards to keep watch on any shadows that may come.

Yukiko sighed as she sat down next to Yuri. "How many more floors is it until we reach the top?"

"It could very well be an endless castle. Forcing us to us fight shadows for eternity."

"Now that's a happy thought. Do think, the others know where we are? Do you think they'll come for us?"

"I think they know we're inside this world. Whether or not they know how to find this castle, is another question."

"Hmm, well this is a depressing subject." Yukiko racked her brain, trying to think of something else to talk about.

"So umm, when you told me you were gay, I would like to ask, why did you tell me? I mean it seems like something you wouldn't tell just anyone, so why tell me?" Yuri was surprised that Yukiko even brought that up at all.

"Why? I guess it because I've already accepted who I am and that I shouldn't try to hide it from others. Also I shouldn't really keep secrets from a friend."

"Does your brother know?"

Yuri chuckled. "I think he figured it out before I did actually." The two of them laughed as they continued to talk about some more trivial topics before Yuri strength could return.

In the midst of talking with Yukiko she could feel her mind being whisked away from her body.

_Diadara Metalworks._

"Are you sure were allowed to buy weapons here Chie?" Yosuke asked as he looked around the store. He was surprised that a store like this even existed in Inaba.

"Yeah, the guy here doesn't really care how old you are unless you look like you can't even use what you want to buy."

"Okay but how are we going to bring these weapons with us without anyone noticing?"

"Why not conceal them under our uniforms. I doubt anyone would notice." With that, they spilt up to find some weapons to buy.

A katana caught Yu's eye. As he reached for it he remembered all the times he had spared with Yuri with toy swords. He liked the feel of it and decided to buy two, one for himself and one for Yuri. Yosuke bought Kunai and Chie bought armoured shoes of some sort.

They left the store and split up to get ready. Not too far away from the the shop, a bizarre blue door came out of nowhere on to the sidewalk.

_What the hell is that?_ Yu looked around and realised that no one else could see it. A familiar voice rang through Yu's head. _So it finally begins. Now if you'll give me a moment of your time. _Yu was sure that was Igor's voice. All of sudden, the velvet key he kept in his pocket started to shine.

Yu entered the velvet room and found Igor sitting in his usual spot. Margret was sitting in the same spot as before as well. There was however, a new person in the room. She was sitting next to Igor, looking down, uninterested in what was happening. She looked younger than Yu was. A voice beside Yu broke him out of his thoughts.

"What the hell?"

Yu turned to the left and Yuri was there. The two stared are each other, not believing that their twin was right there in the room. They tried to embrace the other but ended up going through the each other. Yu and Yuri stared at their hands before turning to Igor form an explanation.

"I have summoned her here, from within her very mind. Her physical body is still where it is at this point in time."

"What?!" Yuri exclaimed. "But Yukiko, she needs me, she-" Yuri was cut off by a bombardment of questions from her twin.

"Yukiko? Is she okay? Are you okay? Where are you? Are you really in the TV world?"

It was rare that Yu showed any form of calmed her brother down. "Don't worry so much brother. My persona is protecting me and Yukiko so we're safe...for the moment."

"We'll rescue you two okay? We will, so don't worry."

"Of course you'll come for me... you always do." Igor cleared his throat, signalling the end of the twins conversation.

"Now, onto business. The catastrophe that is headed your way... It has already taken human lives in its approach towards you... but you have nothing to fear. You already have the power to fight against it. It seems the time for you to use your persona has come."

"Your persona ability is that of the wild card." Margret began to explain.

"If you strengthen your bonds properly, their power will help you overcome any ordeal. Our role is to facilitate that."

"My contribution... is to give birth to new personas." Igor said almost proudly with his regular smile.

"When you wish it, I will teach you the the true power of the wild card. This is the fusion of personas. You two have the power to hold multiple personas and use them accordingly. When you defeat an an enemy, the seeds of possibility will attain before you as cards. At time they may be hard to grasp... but you must master your fear and reach out to them. When you obtain new cards, do not hesitate to bring them here. If you have developing your social links, then you and your persona will gain even more power. They will be one of your chief sources of strength... you would do well to take this to heart." Igor turned to Margret, she nodded and showed them the book she always had in hand.

"The tome you see before you is the Persona Compendium. This will allow learn more about your current personas and getting to know about what they specialise in. Please see me when you wish to use it. Oh and one more thing..." Margret placed the book in her lap and gestured to the other girl, still seemingly ignoring everything that was happening.

"I would like to introduce a new resident of the Velvet Room, who will be helping you on your journey." The girl finally looked up but didn't speak.

"...Marie?"

"Yeah I can hear, nice to meet you two." _She must be really shy._ Yuri thought to herself. _She's kinda cute too._ Her brother suddenly spoke up.

"Have we met before? You seem... familiar." Yuri looked at her again and realised there was something familiar about her.

"Probably, maybe that's why you seem so familiar, but it doesn't matter."

"Excuse her. This is Marie. Her soul is still very young and-" Marie cut her off with anger in her voice.

"Shut up! Don't tell them any more about me than you need to."

"...as you can see." It seemed Margret had already gotten used to this kind of treatment from Marie.

"She may be brusque at times, but please understand that she is only an apprentice and forgive her for her impoliteness. However, I am sure she will help you form a bond between yourself and the "outside world" beyond the Velvet Room. Marie will contact you at later date. One more thing, your wild card ability and your bonds with others, the power within you two, act as if it is one. For example, when one forges a bond with another, the both of you will receive the same strength and power, even if the other is not the one forging that bond. The same applies to the personas. When one obtains a new persona, the other will also gain that persona." Margret finished and Igor made a closing statement.

"Heed my words, defeat in battle is not the only way you journey may come to an end. Please do not forget this. When next we meet, you will come here at your own will. I look forward to that day. Until then... farewell."

_Yukiko's Castle_

Yuri could hear Yukiko's voice calling out to her slowly get clearer.

"Yuri! Yuri! Yuri, please wake up!"

Yuri slowly opened her eyes and touched her forehead groaning.

"What, what happened?"

Yukiko breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god. You kinda just blacked for awhile there. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine I just-" Yuri stopped herself mid-sentence, realising that her head was resting on Yukiko's lap! Her face began turning different shades of red as she sat her up, facing away from Yukiko.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Why was I err, on your lap?" Yuri asked, her face growing more red by the second.

"Oh? I thought it would be more comfortable than lying down on the floor."

Yuri was sure she heard Izanami chuckling, causing her blush even harder.

"Oh okay, yeah that makes sense. Come on Yukiko, my back is fine so we should keep moving."

_Yukiko's Castle: Entrance_

Chie stared up at the giant castle as the black lines flew across the sky.

"Hey, didn't we see this place on the midnight channel last night?"

"Chie, it might be better if you stay out here." Yu suggested. He was worried for her safety, especially when she didn't have a persona to protect herself.

"Nope, I'm going in there." Chie was determined to find Yukiko, no matter what.

"That's Chie for you. Once her mind is set, there is no changing it. Teddie are you sure they're both in there?"

"There's no doubt about it. I can defiantly smell two humans in there."

Chie and Yu ran towards to entrance instantly, leaving Yosuke and Teddie to catch up.

Yu stopped the moment he saw shadows morphing through the walls but Chie kept running.

"Hey Chie wait! Stop!" Chie ignored him, completely oblivious to the shadows she ran past. Yosuke and Teddie caught up with Yu panting.

"Yosuke, you know how to do this?"

"I think so." The two called for their personas when huge glowing glyphs appeared below there feet and glowing cards floated down. Yu crushed it with his hand by enclosing his hand into a fist around the card. Yosuke pulled out his Kunai and jumped in the air to slash the card.

Izanagi charged forward, slashing through the first unfortunate shadow that attacked him. Izanagi killed another, then another and another, never losing his momentum.

"Go, Jiraiya!" Yosuke called, as his persona summoned a green tornado in the corridor. Two shadows dodged the attack and went for Izanagi. He slashed through them with ease and scolded Jiraiya.

**"You have to work on your aim."**

"Let's keep moving!" Yu called to the personas. After destroying more shadows, one if them turned into a card that floated down. When Yu touched it the card disappeared and he could feel the mind of another being inside him.

_Yukiko's Castle: unknown floor_

Yuri and Yukiko found themselves of a strange...floor? Maybe a better a word was "platform". Whatever they were on, it led to many other staircases going in different directions. A spotlight came it nowhere and moved to otherside where it landed on another person? Yuri was about to call out to other girl but stopped herself when the person turn around to reveal... another Yukiko! They were stunned to find another person in the TV world, let alone a Yukiko clone. She wore a pink dress with roses around the lower half. The more noticeable differences between the two Yukiko's was that the other one had glowing yellow eyes.

**"So you think she's your new prince now, huh Yukiko? Well then Yuri... lets see how much of a prince you really are."**

_Prince? What in the world is she talking about?_ Thought a very confused Yuri.

"Yukiko, do you have some kind of long lost sister you haven't told me about?"

"No, I've always been an only child."

The other Yukiko smirked and walked up the staircase behind her as shadows morphed through the ground,ceiling and even the staircases. There must have been dozens of them, all against Izanami. There was no escape, they were trapped and Izanami had the fight them all. Determined not let her master down, she engulfed her blade with electricity and engaged the shadows.

_Yukiko's Castle: lower floor_

Chie continued to running through the castle without slowing down for her friends. She somehow found herself in Yukiko's room. Everything was grey and she could hear her voice in the room.

_"I look good in red."_

"Yukiko?"

_"Yukiko, my name means "snow child" and I hate it."_

"Yukiko? Yukiko is that you?!"

_"Snow is cold and it melts quickly, it's transient, worthless... but it's perfect for me, apart from inheriting the inn, I'm worthless."_

"Yukiko..."

_"But Chie was the only one who told me that I looked good in red." _At that moment many objects in the room turned red.

_"Chie was the only one who gave my life meaning. Chie is cheerful and strong, she can do anything. She has everything I lack. Compared to Chie I'm..." _Chie's legs were shaking, she didn't understand what happening and stared at a red Santa toy at her feet as Yukiko's voice kept talking.

_"Chie will protect me. I'm worthless, but Chie will protect me."_

"Yukiko, I..."

**"Oh now this is hilarious." **Yukiko's room vanished and Chie ended up staring at another Chie.

"W-What the? Who are you?"

**"Chie Satonaka of course."**

"C-Cut the crap! I'm Chie Satonaka!"

**"I'm Chie Satonaka too."**

"What's going on? This is nuts!" The other Chie gave off a small smirk.

**"Yukiko... she actually thinks I'm protecting her. She also said she's absolutely worthless. You gotta love that!"**

"What are you talking about?"

**"Yukiko's hot, sweet and skin is totally perfect. Guys can't leave her alone, they love her... but when I just heard that Yukiko is actually jealous of me... Ha! Now I got a charge out of that! You see when I'm not around, Yukiko can't do anything. She nothing without me, because I'm the one, who is truly the top dog around here!"**

"Shut up! That's not how I feel! Your a liar!" The guys finally caught up to Chie only to find her facing her her shadow.

"Are you okay Chie?"

"Hey that's-"

"No, stay back, don't come near me! It's lies, it's all lies."

"Your not safe!"

"You idiot!" They tried to each Chie but were blocked off by the shadows. Even more shadows came through the ceiling behind them. Izanagi and Jiariya readied for battle.

"Damnit."

"There are so many."

Chie feel to her knees and continued to deny the shadow.

"No, your wrong..."

**"Are you really going to ignore me? Pretend that don't exist?"**

"Shut up! You aren't real, you aren't real!"

"Chie, stop!"

"She's a liar, She's not me!" It was too late. The same kind of energy from Yosuke's shadow encased the shadow until it transformed into a monster.

**"I am a shadow, of your true inner self." **The shadow looked strange to say the least. The "person" on top looked like some kind of dominatrix with a bright yellow banana head, thing. It would have quite funny if Chie's life wasn't in danger. It had impossibly long hair and sat on what appeared to be other people. It carried a long whip as a weapon and raised it to strike Chie.

"Chie!" Yosuke ran forward with Kunai in hand and attacked the shadows blocking his path. Jiraiya threw his blades and killed any remaining shadows surrounding Chie. Yosuke saved Chie in the nick of time as the whip smashed the ground. The "hair" of the shadow turned into tentacle-like things as they all tried to stab Chie and Yosuke. Izanagi slashed through them at the last second but the hair just reformed it self. Yu unsheathed the second katana and wielded two and started slicing through shadows. The shadow knocked back Izanagi and Jiraiya which in turn flung both Yu and Yosuke into the air. A part of the hair wrapped it self around Jiraiya.

**"You still there? I wish you'd die already. I promise to treat Yukiko very well. As my personal punching bag that is!"**

"No..."

**"I'm the one who can't anything on my own. I'm the one who's pathetic, but Yukiko truly needs me. That why she's my friend, I can't lose her."**

"That's not... what I think."

"Chie be smart, don't let her trick you." Yosuke groaned, trying to get back up and fight. A large part of the hair grabbed Yosuke by the neck.

**"I'm not trying to trick her. These are my true colours, like it it not!" **Chie began to hear voices in her head. The voices sounded just like herself and were reciting what the shadow had said about her.

"Is this, how I really feel?"

"Yes these are the voices of all those feelings you have, the ones you keep locked up deep down."

"So what if it is true, who cares!" Yosuke yelled, while being strangled by the shadow.

"Your still her friend aren't you?" Yu called out, still fighting the other shadows.

"That's, that's right! Yukiko, you and me, we'll always be friends." Chie stood up and stared at the shadow.

"Listen, your a part of me it's true, your a voice I pretended that didn't exist. Your the pathetic part of me, but that's still a part if me, is it not?" The shadow began to groan in pain and shake like Yosuke's shadow.

**"Cut the carp! Are you seriously going to acknowledge my existence and just accept me?" **A part of her hair came down towards Chie but Izanagi jumped in the way and was flown into the air, causing Yu to flying as well.

"Narukami!"

The shadow tightened its grip on Yosuke and pulled him up off the ground.

**"I'm going to rip you to pieces!"**

"Yosuke..." There was no way Yu could make it in time to save him. It was then he recalled that he could summon multiple personas. His hand seemed to move in instinct and raised his palm towards Izanagi who was trying to get back up.

"Change!" Izanagi glowed blue and morphed into a blue card. Yu called out the name of his other persona.

"Pyro Jack!" He enclosed his fist and the card broke. Flames seem to come out of nowhere as Pyro Jack appeared before them. It was a floating jack-o-lantern carrying a small lantern in its hand. Teddie was shocked and Yosuke, despite his situation, was able to complain.

"What, no fair, he gets to use two personas?"

"Take her." Yu said with overwhelming confidence that Pyro Jack would save them. The lantern started to gleam as flames burned the hair off Jiriya and Yosuke, setting them free.

**"It's about time I got out of that." **Jiraiya said while momentarily stretching.

"Yosuke, you ready?"

"Yeah! Go Jiraiya!" Wind tornados surrounded the shadow, preventing it from attacking. Flames began to engulf the shadow while it shrieked in pain before exploding, leaving the other Chie floating in the air. Chie got up, still staring at her other self.

"It's true... your me."

The other Chie suddenly turned into some else. It more human than her shadow, it wore a yellow outfit with some odd almost pointy helmet. The weapon was a double bladed staff of some kind. It looked lke a character out of a kung-fu movie. After a few moments it turned into a card and came down to Chie's hand.

"Is this my..."

"Its a persona."

"I have... a persona." The card vanished and Chie fell to her knees, completely out of strength.

"Chie are you alright?" Yosuke asked.

"I'm fine, I just need a little rest, that's all."

_It's clear Chie can't go on like this, but Yuri is still here... damnit._

"Yosuke take Chie back out of here. I'm going to keep searching." Yu declared.

"What? Are you insane dude? Your already worn out as it is." Yosuke sighed.

"Look, your sister has a persona right? Then we're just going to have to trust her that she and Yukiko will be fine. None of us are any condition to keep going."

_Damnit...he's right though. I have to trust her on this, and she seemed perfectly fine when we were in the Velvet Room. I hope she'll still be fine by tomorrow. _

Yu let out a sigh. "Your right, we cant help them right now.

_Junes_

When they exited the TV, Yosuke was immediately called for work. Chie wanted to speak with Yu privately so they sat themselves down in the food court.

"Narukami I'm... really sorry. My strength just gave out on me, I'm so weak. Please forgive me."

"It's okay, I don't blame you, and I know you wanted to keep going as much as I did, but Yosuke was right. There was no way any of us could keep going in the condition we were in."

"Thanks Narukami. You know Im really grateful for what you did back there. I'd be dead if it weren't for you, so thank you." Time stopped for Yu again, just like all the times before hand, strength flowed into him. _Is this, the power of a "social link" they talked about?_

"Don't mention it."

"Oh and as token of my thanks, I'll show you something." Chie pulled out her phone from her pocket.

"What is it?"

"A shot of my dog. You should see him in person, this guy stinks likes its nobodies business, but if it wasn't for this guy, then I would have never met Yukiko. He's the one who made our friendship possible." The picture showed Yukiko and Chie hugging a large dog, they both seemed really happy. Chie looked down at the picture, looking more determined then ever.

"Yukiko..."

_Yukiko's Castle: Unknown floor_

There just too many shadows for Izanami to deal with. The attacks from them were relentless, smashing into Izanami at any opportunity. Yuri was down on her knees, trying to endure the pain as much as she could. Yukiko held on to her as tightly as she could to stop her from flying into the air.

Yuri felt time stop again. As she thought, power coursed through her body and Izanami's body. Izanami's red eyes glowed brightly as lightning bolts shot out of Izanami, striking many shadows as they exploded all around her. Izanami raised her blade and orange energy surrounded the sword. She swing the blade and a wave of orange power flew out and cut through a shadow. After several more swings all of the shadows had finally died. Yuri could see a blue card floating near her. As she reached for it and touched it, she knew she had just gained a new persona.

_These sudden bursts of strength, is it the power of a social link?_ Yuri let out a small smile. _Thanks brother._

"Yuri, are you okay?" Yukiko asked. She was extremely worried for Yuri's well being. Especially after the brutal beating Yukiko saw her took.

"Yeah, I think I'm okay. I just-" Yuri let out big yawn, only now realising she was really sleepy.

"Crap, didn't realise we've been in here for so long." Yukiko found out she was pretty tired too. They got up and kept moving.

Luckily they found another one of those empty rooms. Yuri didn't know why there were rooms like them in there in first place but she didn't complain.

"Rest now, I shall keep watch." Apparently personas didn't need sleep, Izanami kept watch at the door. Even though there was nothing but a cold hard floor to sleep on, they soon fell into a dreamless sleep.

Authors Note: I promise to get the next chapter out sooner... I hope.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Disclaimer: nothing is owned by me, yada yada yada...

Authors Note: I will be using "/" for simultaneous dialog.

_Yukiko's Castle_

"Persona!"

Chie kicked the card that flew down and her persona, Tomoe came through the flash of light.

**"Watch and learn boys."**

"Let's go!"

A shadow charged to attacked the front, while two other shadows circled around her. Tomoe simply kicked the shadow in front, pushing it around herself, killing the shadows coming up behind her.

"Sweet, moving on."

"Chie wait, you only just got your strength back, don't push yourself." Yosuke called, trying to catch up to her as she sped ahead of the boys.

"Chie, he's right, don't over do it!"

"I'm fine, this is nothing!"

_Yukiko's castle: unknown floor_

Yuri and Yukiko woke up to the sound of something rattling.

"Wh-what was that?" Yuri said, still a bit groggy. Izanami was holding on something that looked like a birds cage and Yukiko gasped when she saw it.

"That's... no way."

"What is it Yukiko?"

"It's my birds cage, wait how did you find this?"

**"I heard rattling outside the door. I opened it but nothing was there but this."** Izanami explained as she held up the cage

"Is this... important to you in some way Yukiko?"

"...yeah, it is." Yukiko paused for a moment before continuing.

"A while ago, when I walked home from school by my self, I happened upon a little bird in some bushes. It had hurt its wing quite a bit. I couldn't just leave it there, so I took it home with me. The next day I bought it bird cage for it to live in. It was in my room, next to the window, I took care of that bird almost like it was a sibling. One day though, I forgot to lock the cage door, and the bird that I had cared for... got out and flew away."

"I'm sorry Yukiko, but at least it got better right? That's a good thing!" Yuri tried to cheer her up but Yukiko didn't answer, she only stared at the cage. Yuri tried to steer the subject in a different direction.

"So, wait a second how did this thing get here anyway?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm not sure. I remember throwing this out, but..."

"Could it be that the other you has something to do with this?"

**"That seems to be the most likely possibility."** Izanami responded.

"Another me... it's still too much to swallow."

"Yeah, I can hardly believe it myself. Well, no use standing around here, we should keep moving to find this other you."

_Yukiko's Castle: lower floor_

Chie, still ahead of the guys, ran up some stairs until a spotlight came out of nowhere and shined upon a person at the top stairs.

"Yukiko!"

"Chie! That's not Yukiko!" Yu yelled, hoping Chie would listen.

**"Hahahaha. What's this? Surprise guests? Haha, now this is party. It's time for... our next segment!"**

At that moment, a flashy title appeared before them just like on the midnight channel.

"Alright who are you?" Chie asked, but she knew what the shadow would say next.

**"I am Yukiko and Yukiko is me."**

"No! Your not... I want the real Yukiko, now!"

**"Alrighty, it's time to resume my stud hunt! Oh my prince, ready or not here come!" **The shadow began running when the spotlight switched off. Chie and Yu ran ahead of the other two trying to chase the shadow but found themselves surrounded by an army of shadows. Chie growled under her breath.

"Out of my way!"

_Yukiko's Castle: top floor_

Izanami grew stronger with each passing battle. Yuri was confident that Izanami will be able to handle any shadow that was throw at them. They opened two large doors and they found themselves staring the other Yukiko. She was sitting in a throne at the top of another staircase in the room. They walked towards her and reached the bottom of the stairs when the other Yukiko started talking.

**"Color me impressed. She survived, ha, it looks like she might be prince that will finally save you... or is she?"**

"Alright enough with this "prince" business, who the hell are you anyway?!" Yuri didn't have any patience left for games from the other Yukiko.

**"Isn't it obvious, I'm Yukiko Amagi."**

"Cut the shit! Yukiko is standing right here with me!"

**"I am Yukiko and Yukiko is me."** Yuri could only glare at her. The other Yukiko gave them that smirk again, it made Yuri feel sick.

**"For a moment you actually thought she could truly save you, but she won't save you. Yuri isn't your prince and Chie wasn't either, no prince is coming to save you from this wretched town, isn't that how you feel, me?"**

_Chie? Prince? What is she talking about? _"Yukiko, just what is-" When she turned to Yukiko,she found that she had backed away and had her hands covering her ears.

"Please stop..." Yukiko was muttering to herself.

Enough was enough, she needed to find out who that person was and why she was spouting nonsense.

"Alright, that's it!" Yuri screamed, confused and angry.

"Izanami!" Izanami flew upwards towards the other Yukiko and pointed her jewel covered sword at her throat. Yuri began walking up the stairs.

"Who are you? What do you want? How did you get here?" Yuri's voice was laced with anger. Yuri thought she would drop the charade if she was threatened. What happened though, was completely unexpected. The other Yukiko began chuckling and her yellow eyes began to glow.

**"Didn't your parents teach you that's its rude to start a party before the other guests arrive."**

Yuri's legs stopped at the mere mention of her so called "parents". _Why that son of a- wait other guests... does she mean... _Yuri didn't finish her thought as an invisible force sent Izanami flying across the room. Yuri went flying but Yukiko caught her and lessened the impact. Izanami smashed through the doors sending sharp pain up Yuri's back.

_Yukiko's Castle: lower floor_

They continued in their way up that castle, letting their personas do all the fighting. Chie and Yu ran faster than Yosuke and Teddie could. The the two shared similar thoughts.

_Yukiko.../Yuri..._

_...Where are you?!/...Where are you?!_

The four of them could see a large entrance to another room but before they could reach it, something broke through the door and landed in front of them. Yu gasped when he realised it was Yuri's persona. They looked ahead and saw them. It looked like both Yuri and Yukiko were hurt.

"Yuri!/Yukiko!"

They rushed towards them but stopped when the other Yukiko began laughing.

**"Hahahaha. Oh look, it's Chie Satonaka, former Prince Charming, you made a brave and magnificent prince before you know, but I'm through with you now."** The sound of chains ushered everyone's heads upwards to see a giant chandelier falling down towards Chie. Yu stretched his arm out wards. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as a name slipped out of his mouth.

"Ara Mitama!"

Out of the light, Ara Mitama came through, and blocked the chandelier with a blue barrier that was visible when it had been struck. Ara Mitama looked like a large red teardrop with face. The chandelier was repelled to the other side of the room as Ara Mitama and Yu fell to the ground from the impact.

**"Chie failed me. She won't take me away, she won't save me."**

"Stop it already, that's enough!" Yukiko cried out as the chandelier got up and attacked them again. Yuri suddenly remembered that she could use a persona that Yu obtained. She got up raised her arm forwards.

"Ara Mitama!"

A second one joined the battle as it shielded the others from the attack. When the chandelier was reflected back again, Yuri wrapped her hands around her stomach as she dropped to the ground.

**"Historical inn? Innkeeper training? I am absolutely sick, of being stuck there!"**

"Damnit!" Chie cursed as she summoned her persona. The red carpet sprang to life as it began to move like water. Tomoe jumped into the air but the carpet trapped her legs and puller her back down. Chie and even Teddie were trapped in its grip as well. The shadow continued its verbal assault on Yukiko.

**"Just because I happened to be born here, where everything is decided for me until I die, I don't want it, I don't want any of it!"**

The giant candles on the chandelier sent up massive flames. By doing so huge wax flew out and caught Yu's and Yosuke's legs.

"Damnit, what is this crap!" Yosuke yelled as he tried pulled himself free.

They briefly considered breaking themselves out with their weapons but they didn't feel like accidentally cutting them selves.

"No, none of this is true." It was like Yukiko didn't notice that battle going on. All she focus on was what the other Yukiko was saying to her.

**"I want to go far away. Someplace far from here. I want someone to whisk me away. I can't leave on my own."**

"Stop it, please stop..."

**"I lack hope, and the courage to leave. That's why I've been waiting, someday my prince will whisk me away! My prince will take me somewhere! Anywhere but here!**

"Please..."

**"Old tradition? The pride of town? Screw it all!"**

"How dare you!"

**"That's how I really feel, isn't that right...other me."**

"N-No, your not..."

"Yukiko don't!"

"Don't say it!" It was too late, Yukiko got up and raised her voice.

"You're not me!"

**"Hahahaha, that's right, I can feel the power!" **A ball of far energy surrounded the shadow as lifted the other Yukiko into the air and transformed into a monster. A gigantic bird cage appeared on the chandelier and the shadow looked like a big red phoenix.

**"I am a shadow, of your true inner self!"**

Yu and Yuri looked at each other, then their personas lying on the ground. They prepared the summon their other personas

"Change!/Change!"

"Izanagi!/Izanami!"

Izanagi and Jiraiya punched the wax to free their masters, while Izanami cut free Tomoe and Chie.

Yuri and Yukiko tried to get up towards the others but the birds cage that laid at Yukiko feet, began to enlarge itself and trapped Yukiko within it as large chains pulled the cage into the air with Yukiko inside. Yuri tried to free her with Izanami but a huge gust of wind blew them both back.

Yuri found herself at her brother's side. It was such relief to her to see him right there with her. She also however hated herself that she was always the damsel in distress for him to save. She was technically older than him, by like a minute, but it always seemed like he was much older than her. She resolved to get stronger after the incident at her last school, but it looks like she still had a long way to go.

The shadow flapped its wings and flaming red feathers flew towards them. Each if them exploding in mid air as the fire spread across the room. Teddies tail caught fire and he started running around while Yosuke was yelling some kind of complaint towards the shadow.

"Alright that's it! Get her Jiraiya!"

A green tornado struck but shadow had retreated back into the cage.

**"My turn." **Izanagi sped forward and tried to cut the cage with his blade, but it had no effect. The candles suddenly ignited and Izanagi was forced to back away.

**"Ladies, please. Let me show you how a real persona gets this done." **Izanami boasted as she powered up her sword with energy. She swung the blade, letting loose the attack and it hit the cage the dead on. However not a single dent was made in it. Izanagi and Izanami shot lightning bolts from their hands but their was still no effect.

**"Damn."** Izanami growled.

"Yukiko! I'm on my way!" Chie yelled but Tomoe was smacked away by the cage itself which sent Chie away from Yukiko.

**"Too bad, I though Chie would save me but... Chie didn't save me. She wasn't my prince at all! I've waited for so very...very, long!"** The candles let loose a torrent of flames towards Chie but Pyro Jack had been summoned just in time. The flames were all absorbed into the lantern.

"So what if Chie isn't your prince, is it really all that important!?" Chie turned to Yu, seeing it him who spoke up.

**"What?"**

"Chie came here and risked her life to save Yukiko. I think thats pretty good proof that truly does care. What could she have done!?"

"Yu-kun..."

"Yeah! I barely know Yukiko but I still tried to help her. So what if there is no prince coming for her. She doesn't need one! She can set herself free all on her own!" Yuri was yelling kinda had to, to make themselves heard over the roar of the flames.

**"I... I've heard enough!" **The flames got even stronger and Pyro Jack was almost overwhelmed by it. Chie stood up and walked slowly towards Yukiko.

"Yukiko, I have to tell you something and its very important." The fire around her intensified but she stood her ground.

"This isn't easy, see the truth is, I've always been jealous of you. You had everything Yukiko and I had nothing. That's why I loved how you depended on me. You actually needed something that I had. I liked that the way that I needed to be there to protect you. It gave me a purpose."

**"Exactly, I can do anything on my own, I'm helpless!"**

"That's not true! Yukiko, you are one of the strongest people that I know. You want to escape then do it! Leave and go wherever you want!

"You're wrong Chie I can't."

Yuri was about to interject but her brother placed hand on her shoulder and shook his head. Yuri then realised that this was something Yukiko and Chie needed to sort out on their own. Save the crackling of the flames and the girls, everything was quiet. No one was attacking the shadow and the shadow wasn't even attacking them as it almost seemed absorbed in the conversation between Yukiko and Chie.

"I'm so weak. I do nothing but sit around waiting for someone to save me. I am weak and pathetic, I'm such a horrible coward."

"So what!? You're just scared!" Chie started coughing as she collapsed on her knees.

"There's parts of me, that I'm not really proud of either. Horrible things that I'm really ashamed of, they don't matter! You'll always be my friend!"

"Chie..." Yukiko got up and clutched on to the bars of the cage and broke through, Chie caught her as she fell through. The two of them embraced each other like nothing else mattered in the world.

"Thank you..."

The shadow let out an ear piercing screech as the cage broke and it flapped in the air while in pain.

"The shadow's growing weak now!" Teddie called, always the one to point out the obvious in these types of situations.

"Pyro Jack!" He flew up and drained any kind of flame that the shadow threw at Pyro Jack. Yuri reached out for a persona in her mind.

"Jack Frost!" An adorable looking persona appeared and like the opposite of Pyro Jack in a way. It looked pretty much like a blue plushie toy that kids love. Jack Frost summoned eight ice spikes in the air and sent them all towards the shadow, stabbing its wings, thus stopping it from flying higher. Jiraiya came around and kicked before Tomoe gave it the finishing move by kicking it's chest and sending into the ceiling and it exploded on impact.

Chie touched one of its feathers and apologised to Yukiko.

"I'm sorry Yukiko. I was so wrapped up in my own stuff, that I didn't even bother to see what was bothering you."

"I didn't notice the things that were bothering you either." Yukiko turned towards her shadow. "You see, that's why I created you. You're right, I just wanted to escape from everything." She then pulled her shadow into a hug. "You are, a part of me." Her shadow turned into an elegant looking persona with pink as a primary colour on it. It dissipated and Yukiko touched the card that cane down from it. She became exhausted and nearly dropped to the floor. As the group left the Teddie called for them.

"Wait a second you guys are just going to abandon me!?"

"How could we abandon you? Don't you live here?!" Yosuke spat back, not in the mood for Teddie's antics. Yukiko however was much more sympathetic.

"Oh I'm sorry, I promise I'll come back, okay?" Yukiko began rubbing his head and his cheeks became red before Chie grabbed Yukiko by the arm forced her to leave.

_Junes, Electronics section_

When they exited the TV, Yuri and Yukiko's stomachs growled immediately.

"Oh man, how long were we in the TV world?" Yuri asked.

"Over a day." Yu answered.

"Man I wonder what you guys ate while in there. No wait don't tell me, it's better in my head." Yosuke's comment got him a swift kick in crotch by both Chie and Yuri, which sent Yukiko into a fit of laughter.

_Unknown location_

A woman with long dark red hair was typing away at a laptop. She didn't finish what she was working on because a file was just sent to her. It told her that the shadow sensors have picked some activity in the Inaba region. _Inaba...now where have I heard of that before?_ She searched her files for reference to the name Inaba and sure enough, she found it.

The file that mentioned Inaba contained information on Yu Narukami and Yuri Narukami. They had recently moved to the town of Inaba due to their parents moving to America for business. Her organisation had been tracking whatever happened in the Narukami Group. Not too long ago they had discovered that the Kirijo Group and the Narukami Group had made some sort of deal with each other years ago. The details of the deal could never be found however and the Narukami Group's movements had to be tracked to be on the safe side. The Narukami Group were not as well known as Kirijo but their influence and power could certainly rival the Kirijo's.

_So, the heirs move to Inaba and all of sudden, shadow activity is detected. I can't overlook this. _She had an agent close to the area she could send to investigate. She reached for the phone on the side but hesitated slightly. _To call her on work so soon..._

_Flash back_

_Everyone who was close to him, were with the woman with long red hair. They all stepped out of an elevator that led underground. They walked through a steel corridor until they reached a circular room. In the centre of room there was a large tube, big enough to contain a human. The tube was connected to huge pieces of machinery and wires. There was some transparent metal in the front of the tube so the person inside it could be seen. The person was frozen, his body deserved to be preserved through out eternity._

_Under that there was a name that was engraved into the tube. It read "Makoto Yuki". His friends came to pay their respects on the anniversary of his death. One of the other girls broke down in tears. She had unusually kept a cherry attitude most of the time, but she would always start crying at his anniversary. No one could blame her really, she truly loved him._

_End flash back_

Her hand was still hovering the phone, she eventually decided just to call her and allow her to decline if she wished. The phone rang several times before a familiar voice answered.

"Hello?"

"It's me, Mitsuru, listen... I need you to do something for me Minako..."

Authors Note: so what do you think? Is adding the Shadow Operatives this early a good idea? Reviews are appreciated.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own nothing...

Authors Note: I would like to give out a giant thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited and followed this story. By doing that you give me the motivation to keep going, even when life decides to crap all over you. Honestly though, this story kinda just started out as a thing I would do when ever I was bored, I never imagined that I would get this passionate about writing this. Anyway that's enough rambling from me, on with the story!

Yuri could see nothing but white, all around her there was nothing but a white empty space. She walked forward, not knowing what she was meant to do, but she knew she had to keep walking. It wasn't long before something came to her field of vision. Blue, a small blue speck in front of her. She quickened her pace and tried to find out what the blue thing was. As she got closer, she realised that it was a woman wearing blue attire. The other woman soon turned to face Yuri with a look on her face that showed nothing but sadness.

"Save him." She uttered, before Yuri lost her vision.

Yuri woke up panting. She felt like she just had a nightmare.

"Save him..." Yuri quietly repeated to herself. Who is "him"? Yuri soon realised that the clothes the other woman wore, were similar to what Margret wore. _I must be over thinking this. It was just a dream, nothing more. _

Yuri check her watch. It read 9:13am. Yesterday, after her brother explained the shadow business to her, he insisted that she take a few days off school to recover. She got out of bed and went to the bathroom. She stared at herself in the mirror for while. Her silver hair was getting down past her shoulders and looked extremely messy now thanks to bed hair. Yuri wasn't the type to fuss about her hair or looks much but looking at her eyes, now she kinda wished she wore coloured eye-contacts. She stared at her own golden eyes and couldn't help but think that her own shadow would jump out at her at any moment. Shaking those thoughts away, she brushed her teeth, washed her face and left to eat breakfast.

As expected, her brother left her something to eat. He was still worried about her cooking skills apparently. After she ate she briefly wondered what was she was going to do for the next few days. She remembered that her brother had bought her a sword to practice with against the shadows. She went back up to the hiding spot for the weapons, which was in the wardrobe.

She took the white handle and unsheathed the blade from the white sheath. She swung it a few times and liked the feel of the blade. After practicing with the sword for while she tried to find something else to do. It wasn't long before she got bored of things to do around the house. She knew she was meant to be resting but she figured a little walk around town couldn't hurt. She picked out a grey long sleeve shirt, a light blue jacket and dark blue pants. She hated wearing skirts of any kind since they showed off more skin then she preferred.

_Shopping district_

Minako Arisato walked down down the shopping district, looking around not doing much of anything. She had her shadow sensor in hand, which was disguised as an Iphone. She was currently staying at the Amagi Inn, however if it looked like this mission would drag on for a while then Mitsuru would buy her a place to stay in Inaba.

The shadow sensor was constantly going off but it could never tell where the activity was coming from. It seemed like it was all around her but Minako could see nothing out of the ordinary. The shadow sensor could also detect others who had the potential to be persona users or those who already were persona users._ I doubt I'll find one in a such a small town._

No sooner than she finished her thought, the shadow sensor went absolutely ballistic. It detected a persona user about twenty meters in front of her. Minako looked up to see that the user was a girl with silver hair that shined in the sunlight.

Minako was hit with a wave of familiarity. There was something about her, but she couldn't pinpoint what it was. She decided to follow her.

_What is a persona user doing all the way out here in a town like this. _Minako knew that there was a possibility of other users outside their group, but to actually find one was something else.

While exploring the town Yuri turned a corner at the bus stop and saw something a little startling in the distance. A big blue door stood in the middle of the sidewalk across the street. It seemed like everyone was ignoring it as people walked past it like it wasn't even there.

Yuri heard the shuffling of feet behind her and turned around to see a brunette girl sitting down at the bench staring at her phone. There was something familiar about her. Yuri realised she was staring at her and turned her attention back to the door. She felt drawn to it. When Yuri reached the door, her left pocket in her pants started glowing. She reached down in it and grabbed a Velvet key.

_What the, how did this get here?_ Yuri recalled Igor saying something about the "secret of fusion" or at least something along those lines. Well I guess it couldn't hurt to know how to fuse personas. Yuri inserted to key and was immediately transported away.

Minako stood there in shock. _A Velvet door...so that's means she has the Wild Card. I guess that's why she seemed familiar. _Minako knew that she would need her if she was to find the source of the shadows in Inaba.

Minako racked her brain trying to figure out a way to approach her about the subject of personas and shadows._ She would never voluntarily speak about personas for the fear of looking insane. So that means I have to be up front about this. _

Yuri came out of the Velvet Room with a pleased look on her face. She had gotten the hang of fusing personas. Well, fusing two personas at least. Fusing three or more was something she would tackle later on. Marie accompanied her as well. Margret suggested that she take Marie out to explore the "world of man".

"Have fun in the Velvet Room?" Yuri smile faded from her face as she turned to where the voice came from. It was the same girl that she saw on the bench before. How does she know? Wait, does she have the Wild Card too?

"Y-You know?" It was all Yuri could stutter before Marie interrupted.

"Do you know her?"

"No, I don't." Yuri responded. She turned her head back to the brunette.

"Who are you?" Yuri asked. The other girl looked downwards before responding.

"Let's discuss this in a more private place, please." Yuri didn't know the town that well yet but she suggested they all go to Junes.

_Junes food court_

The three girls sat down with some food in front of them but no one ate. Yuri tried to break the awkward silence.

"Okay, who are you and how do you know of the Velvet Room?"

"My name is Minako Arisato and I was a guest in that room too."

"So you made a contract with Igor?"

"Yes I did." Minako wasn't sure how much she should reveal. The Shadow Operatives had to remain a secret but she knew lying to her would only lead to bad things.

"So who's she? Igor's assistant?" Minako asked, pointing to Marie. She remembered the times she and Makoto would take Elizabeth out of the Velvet Room to explore to human world.

"No, I'm Margret's apprentice. She is Igor's assistant in the room."

"Margret? I don't think I know her. So how did you become an apprentice in the Velvet Room anyway? What did you do before?"

"I..." Marie didn't finish.

"Marie-chan Is something wrong?" Yuri gently shook her shoulder.

"I don't know. I don't remember anything before then. All I remember is Margret finding me and giving me a name: Marie. She took me in and trained me. So now I do small errands on "the other side" for them. The only thing I have from my past is this." Marie reached in her handbag and took out a small bamboo comb and showing it to them before putting it back.

"Hey why don't we search for your memories, you know, find out who you really are?" Yuri suggested.

"Are you sure that's what you want Marie-chan? Sometimes it's better not to know the truth, and to just wrap one self in lies." Minako said while looking downwards, her face having a hint if sadness.

"Well I don't believe that!" Yuri sternly said, while she slammed her palm on the table, startling the other girls. "I think it's always better to have the truth, no matter how painful it is. It's better than lying to yourself." Minako stared at her for a moment before chuckling slightly.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to-" Minako stopped when she realised something.

"You know, we've been talking but I just realised, I don't even know your name yet."

Yuri facepalmed. She couldn't believe she hadn't introduced herself yet. This is so embarrassing.

"My name is Yuri Narukami, it's err, nice to meet you? Hehehe. Although it's a bit late for that." Despite the situation, Minako merely smiled.

"It's nice to meet you Yuri-chan."

Minako and Yuri's stomachs then started growling.

"Well, I think our stomaches want us to stop talking and start eating." The girls began to eat, enjoying lunch at Junes.

Afterwards they escorted Marie back to the Velvet Room.

"We'll find your lost memories someday, okay? I promise." Yuri said to Marie before time stopped for her. Like every other time, Yuri felt stronger and so did Izanami. After Marie went back to the Velvet Room, Minako asked the question she had meaning to ask before they got distracted.

"So, how did you obtain a persona? Did you use an Evoker?"

"Evoker? What's that?"

_She looks genuinely confused at the word. Does she really not use one? What would she have to gain by lying?_

"If you don't use an Evoker to summon a persona, then what do you use?"

"Umm, it's kinda hard to explain. I just summon it from my mind and blue card comes down for me break and my persona comes out of the card. You don't do that to summon one?"

"Do you think there is a place where you can show me?"

"Show you? Well..." The only place where we could summon personas privately is...the TV world.

"Follow me."

_Junes, electronics section_

The girls were standing in front of a large flat screen TV in Junes.

"Put your hand up against the screen."

"What? Umm, okay then." Minako slowly extended her arm to touch the TV. However, instead of touching the screen like she expected, her fingers faded through while ripples formed around her fingers.

"What the?"

Yuri moved towards the TV and place her hand right through it.

"Jump through."

"What?!"

"Don't worry you'll be fine...I think." With that, Yuri jumped straight through and Minako had no choice but to follow.

_TV World_

Yuri landed on her feet, while Minako was laid out on the floor. Yuri helped her up.

"Where are we?" Minako asked, while looking around, trying see through the fog.

"We're inside the TV."

"What!?"

"Hey, Yuri-chan!" Another voice yelled through the fog and a bear like figure came through. Minako then realised that Yuri was wearing glasses. Yuri went to talk to the bear. _This place, it feels like...Tartarus._

"Teddie, right?"

"Yep, that's me! Oh, who's this beauty?" Teddie asked, pointing to Minako.

"Oh right. Minako-chan, this is Teddie. He lives here. Oh, do you have any spare glasses for her?"

Teddie reached behind himself and pulled out a pair of glasses with a white frame.

"I was saving these for Yukiko-chan, but I guess you can have these miss."

Minako put on the glasses and her expression was exactly the same as Yukiko's when she put them on for the first time.

"You'll be able to see through the fog with those."

"So this is where you got your persona right?"

"You catch on quick, yeah that's right."

"So this world has shadows in it right?"

"Wow, she's smart." Teddie commented.

"So what are you then?" Minako asked Teddie.

"I am the beary bear of this world: Teddie!" Teddie said proudly.

"A bear huh? That's strange, do you remember how you got here?"

"No, I've always live here in this world. I don't remember anything else."

"I see, so you've lost your memories too." Minako said softly.

Minako turned to Yuri. "Alright, I think it's time for you to show me how you summon your persona."

Yuri closed her eyes for a moment and a blue card came down. She opened her eyes and broke the card with her hand.

"Persona!" Just like she said, a persona appeared.

"This is my first persona: Izanami. Now it's for you to show me what you do to summon one."

Minako pulled out her Evoker and held it against her temple.

"What the hell?!" Yuri said, startled by what Minako was doing.

"Relax, I'll be fine. Persona!" Minako pulled the trigger, which let off a the sound glass shattering and before them appeared a blue persona with a metal, almost skull shaped head. It had a row of coffins attached to its back by chains as it held a massive blade in its hand.

A chill went up Yuri's spine at the sight of it. She started feeling colder the longer she stared at it, but she couldn't take her eyes off it.

"Meet the god of death: Thanatos."

Yuri couldn't say anything as the massive persona stared down at her.

"Why don't we have a battle?" Minako said in a cherry voice, which seemed to snap Yuri out of her trance.

"What? Are you serious?"

"It will be fun to see which of our personas are stronger, don't you think? Come on its been awhile since Thanatos fought something that was worth his time, so what do you say?"

"Well..." Yuri hesitated. She thought about it for a moment. "What's the worst that can happen. Alright your on!"

Thanatos and Izanami floated upwards in the fog and circled around each other, neither of them making a move.

**"I hope your ready to be utterly destroyed by me." **Thanatos boasted attempting to goad Izanami into attacking first.

**"Don't underestimate me." **Izanami responded, clutching the sword tighter.

**"Ha! I can tell you haven't got much experience in battling shadows. Your weak."**

**"We'll see about that!" **Izanami took the offensive and began to strike at any opening she could find. Thanatos blocked each slash with ease as Izanami let loose a flurry of attacks. After thinking melee attacks were useless, Izanami fell back and let out lightning attacks from her palm. Those also had no effect as Thanatos as he just stayed there, taking it all like it was nothing.

**"Like I said, you're weak." **Thanatos sped forward ready to swing his blade. Izanami charged her sword with energy as both blades clashed.

Thanatos's blade cut right through Izanami's sword, then he punched Izanami in the stomach before hitting her on the head with the handle of the blade, sending Izanami towards the ground with a loud thud. Izanami lifted her head to see his blade directly in front of her helmet. She turned her head to her master, who was in pain with Teddie and Minako trying to comfort her.

**_I've failed._**

Izanami looked back but instead if a sword pointing at her, Thanatos had extended his hand to help her up. She grudgingly took it. Thanatos then spoke to her like a teacher would talk to a student.

**"You are a persona. Your duty is to serve and protect your master at any cost. You mustn't let anger or anything else cloud your mind in battle, because your master will be the one who pays the price." **Izanami didn't say anything, but only hung her head in down in shame.

"I'm so sorry Yuri-chan, I didn't think Thanatos would be that rough. I'm really sorry." Minako apologised. Yuri began chuckling despite the situation.

"That sounds dirty Minako-chan." Yuri managed to groan out.

"Wait, your not mad?" Minako asked, surprised by Yuri's comment.

"This pain, it's something I have to go through." Minako gasped quietly at those words. _Those same words... _She closed her eyes and smiled.

"It's because you want to grow stronger, to protect someone with your life, right?"

"How did you-"

"I know the feeling." The two stared at each other before time froze for the two of them. It was a feeling Minako hadn't felt in a long time. The feeling of life coursing through her body, giving her strength and healing all wounds, well, physical wounds anyway. There was one wound in her heart that would never heal. The pain in Yuri's stomach went away instantly and she was able to stand on her own two feet again. The two girls blinked a few times, not saying anything. The look in the other one's eyes told them that they both experience the same thing.

Teddie was starting to get worried by the lack of dialog between the girls.

"So miss, what's that in your hand?"

Minako didn't realise she was still holding on her Evoker. The thing still had smoke coming out of it, just goes to show how fast Thanatos beat down Izanami.

"So that's an Evoker, can I hold it?" Yuri asked.

"Sure." Yuri took hold of it and seemed heavier than she thought it would be.

"So you shoot yourself in head with this to summon your persona, that's just strange." Yuri commented while handling the gun in her hands.

"So how did you get this?"

_Damnit. How do I explain this? Do I want to lie to her? _A few moments passed before Minako sighed. _I hope Mitsuru understands._

"Yuri-chan, what I'm about to tell you, you must promise not tell anyone else, and that goes for you too, Teddie!"

"Yes ma'm!" Teddie said, standing upright immediately.

"Wait, what's going on?"

"You see I... I work for a secret organisation that specialises in the elimination of shadows. We do other things but, I'm not allowed access to that information." Minako stopped for a moment to let it sink in.

"This Evoker, is used to summon our personas, it's our most useful weapon against them. That's where I got it from. I understand if you don't believe me, but what I'm telling you is the truth." Minako's heart rate accelerated as she watched for Yuri's reaction. She had to keep details as vague as possible.

Yuri couldn't really believe what she said at first before realising that their entire situation would sound insane to a normal person. _She doesn't have anything to gain by lying._

"So what's a secret agent doing here in the small town of Inaba?" Minako let out a sigh of relief at the question.

"Well, I was sent here because shadow activity was detected in this region. I here because I'm meant to eliminate the source and discover the cause of it."

"I think you might be out of luck for that miss." Teddie said. "You see, this world has been here for a very long time, and the shadows here, there is no end to them."

"What, but if this world has been here for a longtime, then why was activity detected only recently?"

"I think I can answer that." Yuri piped up.

"There is a murderer here in Inaba. I don't know how, but he's kidnapping people and throwing them here into this world to die. Two people have already been killed. When someone dies in this world, their bodies end up in our world. I was also one of those who were kidnapped."

"But you have a persona, so you survived."

"Yes, however, someone else was thrown in with me, and we ended up in a large castle of some sort. We couldn't leave, our only choice was to head up the castle. Along the way we fought many shadows, almost an overwhelming amount. Eventually we reached the top and we discovered a shadow there, but it looked exactly like the person that I was thrown in with. Apparently that shadow is a persons inner self, a self that the person locks away in their mind, a self they never want to other people. When a person enters this world, a persons suppressed self may emerge as a shadow, and attempt to kill the original person and take its place. The shadow taunted the original, yelled out the deepest and darkest thoughts for everyone to hear. When she denied what the shadow said, it transformed into a monster form, it was extremely powerful."

"You defeated it by yourself?"

"No, my brother and his friends came to rescue us."

"You have a brother?"

"Yeah, he is one I want to protect with my life. We defeated the shadow together in a massive battle. That may be what caused you to detect shadows here in Inaba." When Yuri finished her explanation, Minako pondered what to do next. _So there are more persona users here, a murderer that's using this world to kill people and another Wild Card user. She received the Wild Card for a reason, that means something big is happening here. _

The girls left the TV world as they waved goodbye to Teddie. After exiting the TV, Minako's stomach was heard rumbling.

"Wait, didn't you eat lunch already?"

"I eat a lot, okay!" Minako cried out while her face grew red. Yuri couldn't help but laugh. While Minako ate at the food court, the song Reach out for the Truth could be heard from Yuri's phone. Her brother was calling her.

"Hello?"

"Your not home, are you?"

"No, I'm not, I'm sorry. I know I should be resting but I feel fine now and I thought I should explore the town, you know, get to know the place."

"Well, I guess that's fine, just be careful, okay?"

"Relax, I'm fine, oh by the way, how did you know I'm not home?"

"I'm your twin, why wouldn't I know, that and fact you bonded with two people in single day, you work fast sis."

Yuri completely forgot about that detail. When she bonds with someone her brother would feel it too, and vice versa.

"Anyway you should get home soon, don't want Nanako-chan home alone do you?"

After Minako finished eating, Yuri and Minako waved goodbye to each other, hoping to run into each other again. Part way home, time froze for Yuri. It looks like brother is working pretty fast himself.

It was a while before Yu got home and he looked tired when he walked through the door.

"What happened to you?" Yuri asked, while watching TV with Nanako.

"Joined the basket ball club." Yu answered, taking a seat on the couch.

"Really, I thought you didn't do sports?"

"Not really, but they needed more players and Chie almost begged me to help them. So what happened with you?"

"We should talk about this in our room." Yuri said, while getting up.

In their room, Yu simply stood there, waiting for an explanation from Yuri. She sat down on the bed before explaining.

"Well, I kinda ran into someone with the Wild Card power today."

"What?! How?"

"Do you know of a blue door in the shopping district, that leads the Velvet Room?"

"Yeah I do."

"Well, I decided I try my hand at fusing personas. I eventually got the hang of fusing two personas into one. After that Margret suggested I take Marie out to our world. When I got out, someone mentioned the Velvet Room. It was a girl, she had brown hair and her eyes were red, like blood. We went to Junes to discuss more, I later found out she had the Wild Card too. Also Marie has lost her memory and I promised to help her find them."

"So Marie and this other girl, those were the two you bonded with?" Yuri nodded. "So what's her name anyway?"

"It's Minako Arisato." Silence enveloped the room before Yu asked the question he needed to ask.

"So...did you see anything?" Yuri knew what he was talking about, her and Yukiko's kidnapping.

Yuri shook her head. "No, it's all a blank, I don't remember a thing." Yuri was getting frustrated, someone kidnapped her to kill her but she didn't know who or why.

"I really sorry brother, but I-" she was interrupted when her brother sat down next to her and pulled her closer to him.

"It's okay, your safe, that's all that matters right now." Tears began to well up in Yuri's eyes._ I will be stronger brother, I will protect you as well._

_Amagi Inn_

Minako laid out on the bed, letting her thoughts wonder. Burn my Dread started blaring out of her phone. It was Mitsuru.

"Hey Mitsuru! What's up?"

"Minako, how are things in Inaba? Have you discovered the shadows?"

"Business as always huh? Well, you see, I have found the source, but I don't think it can eliminated."

"What?" Minako then went on to explain what transpired with Yuri Narukami.

"A whole other world huh? This complicates things. You said the place feels like Tartarus?"

"Yeah, also, I'm sorry I revealed the presence of the Shadow Operatives. I didn't want to lie to her."

"You didn't give out anything specific about our organisation?"

"The most concrete thing I told her was the we eliminate shadows."

"I see, well then, I guess that's just fine, she has the persona ability after all. We probably would've ended up telling her at some point anyway. Now, this murder case, what can you tell me about it?"

"So far there have been four attempts. Yuri-chan didn't tell me who else was thrown in with her but she let it slip that it was girl that was with her. The first two victims were Mayumi Yamano, the reporter, and Saki Konishi, a student at Yasogami Highschool."

"So it looks like culprit is only attacking women."

"Seems like it."

"Alright, I'll see if I can find out more on my end. Although I doubt I'll find much. In the mean time, I'll also look for a place for you live in Inaba. This other world, it must be investigated. Your top priority now is to learn all you can about this world, and...you must also infiltrate this group of friends Yuri told you about."

"Infiltrate? What?!"

"These murders have happened recently, correct?"

"Yeah, so?"

"The Narukami twins moved to Inaba only recently as well. Don't you think it's a bit convenient that the two events coincided on the same time."

"But, Yuri-chan is a Velvet guest! There's no way that she could-"

"I know, but still, it doesn't hurt to be cautious of them. It seems only persona users may willingly enter this other world. So every persona user in Inaba is a suspect."

"I see, I understand."

They hung up and Minako was left to gather her thoughts on the situation. There was no doubt in Minako's mind that Yuri-chan wasn't the killer. _So then, just who is it?_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Disclaimer: you guys know the drill. Atlus owns persona

Authors Note: I'm so sorry for this taking so long. Writers block is a terrible thing.*dodges Molotov cocktail* okay, okay, I'll try starting the next chapter!

_Australia_

The moonlight shined down on a rural town at night. A girl with short blonde hair, crystal blue eyes and a black suit walked the empty streets. The civilians of the area had been evacuated due to a dangerous gas leak. That was all a lie however; the real reason for the civilian evacuation was exactly forty two meters North West from her current location. A strange fog enveloped the entire town; it was so thick it was beginning to obstruct her vision. She switched her eyes to different mode to see her target, which was getting closer towards her.

"This fog..." She said to no one in particular. The girl took out a small tube with a metal lid. She removed to lid and held it outward to allow some of the fog to enter it. After a satisfactory amount of fog had been caught, she closed the lid and placed the tube in back in her suit.

The girl turned the corner of the block, only to be attacked by a large creature. She hopped backwards and narrowly dodged the attack. Her internal radar detected the creature as a shadow. It looked like a large wolf, dripped in a black slime and with glowing red eyes.

She raised her arm towards the shadow, pointing her fingers directly at it. Her fingers changed into miniature gun barrels. Bullets began flying at the shadow as it tried to escape the line of fire. The girl's targeting system predicted its next move and ripped the shadow to shreds with her bullets.

Her internal radar detected two more shadows coming up behind her. She turned around and was confronted by two more shadows. One of which was a large ball looking thing with a giant tongue hanging out of its mouth. The other shadow was a big black crow in the air.

Two missiles emerged from the blonde's left shoulder. Her eyes locked on both shadows. The missiles fired and destroyed the shadows.

"Mission complete." The girl said into her communicator in her ear. The statement was followed by silence. The girl chuckled of a lack of a response.

"Roger that." After finally getting an answer from them, she walked back to a group of people that were waiting for her outside the town.

The current Prime Minister of Australia: Julia Gillard waited for the girl to return, along with a group military officials. Weeks ago, the town had been subjected to a thick fog that covered the entire town. Rumors spread about so called "monsters" roaming the town. After awhile, people began to disappear and the government was forced to step in.

It was around that time, the Australian government was contacted by a Japanese organization called the "Shadow Operatives", which had caught wind of the rumors. The leader of the organization requested that they help with the problem; in exchange that Australian government considers assisting their group in defeating monsters.

After much deliberation, the Australians eventually agreed to the offer. It was a surprise to find out that the Japanese were sending only one agent, even more of a surprise that the agent was an android that looked like a young woman. The android was The 7th Generation Anti-Shadow weapon, Aigis.

The Prime Minister stood next a black limo as she waited for Aigis's return. The fact that she completed the mission in less than five minutes astounded the military officers.

Aigis returned with her communicator in hand, which also had a camera attached to it, so proof of monsters actually existed. A soldier took the communicator from her hand, with a look of skepticism on his face.

A laptop rested on the hood of the limo so the soldier could upload footage of what was recorded. After seeing the recording, all doubt was removed and the Australian government agreed to help the Shadow Operatives in their mission to protect the world from shadows.

Aigis went back to a black car near the area to take her back to the airport. The driver welcomed her back as Aigis sat in the back of car. As the car drove away, she took out her phone and started dialling Mitsuru's number.

"Aigis? Is your mission done already?" She sounded really tired at the moment.

"Correct, I did not discover how it happened though."

"It wasn't Dark Hour?"

"No, however there was a strange greenish fog in the town, I collected of sample of it. I have a scanned it multiple times, but I am unable to identify the chemical structure of the fog."

"I see, I'll have the guys at the lab take a look at it when you get back. Oh and one more thing, I'm sorry to send on another job so soon but it's important."

"It's okay Mitsuru-san, I'm happy to help."

"That's what I like to hear. Anyway I'll be sending you to a small town called Inaba. Minako is already there, but I believe this mission may require more than one person."

"Why's that?"

"Believe it or not, but a whole other world has been found in Inaba. Minako discovered this world though an individual named: Yuri Narukami. Apparently you can enter this world though T.V's in the Inaba region. "

"Enter TVs?" _The atomic structure of a television shouldn't allow transportation of any kind._

"Yes, the world on that side is apparently crawling with shadows. I need you to help Minako learn more about it."

"Very well, I will head toward Inaba when I get back to Japan. Will this be a long term mission?"

"With Minako's latest report, it very well seems like that will be the case, and because of that, you and Minako are going back to school."

"Really?!" Aigis could hear Mitsuru chuckling at her excitement. "Wait, how is Minako-san going back to school?"

"I'll be getting her a fake ID to make sure she gets into the second year of highschool."

"Second year?" Mitsuru went on to explain another purpose for Aigis to go to Inaba.

"So Minako and I need to investigate the Narukami twins and any other persona users in town to who find out who this killer is, and learn more about this other world? Is that correct?"

"Correct. I will send you the address for the property I bought for Minako."

"Very well, I will do my best."

"Good luck."

Aigis hung up and pondered about her next mission.

_Yasogami, staircase to roof top._

Yu and Yuri headed up to the roof of the school to eat lunch when a girl with wavy orange hair met them at the top of the stairs.

"You're that new recruit right?" She said to Yu, with an air of superiority in her voice.

"Who's she?" Yuri asked.

"I'm Ai Ebbihara, the basket ball team's club manager."

"Do you need something?" Yu asked.

"Yeah, ditch school with me." She said it like it was something she did a lot.

"Huh?/Huh?" Yu and Yuri were surprised as to why she would make such a request.

"The team asked me to pick up some things for them, so I need someone carry it all, you are a team player right?" She was asking but it didn't sound like she was giving him much of a choice. Yu sighed and decided to go with her.

_TV World_

Minako came through into the other world, this time with her Naginata. She brought her red MP3 player, with the red headphones and even her silver barrettes which form the Roman numeral; XXII, for good luck.

"Minako-chan, right?" Teddie asked as he ran through the fog as Minako put on the glasses.

"That's my name, now don't wear it out."

"Do you need something?"

"I do actually; do you think I could ask you more about this world?"

"I don't really much about this world; all I've done is tried to survive. So I don't know if I can help you." Teddie said sadly.

"That's okay, Teddie, anything you know will be helpful."

"Well, okay. Let's see, oh, this fog, sometimes the fog in this world will be lifted and that's when your world gets foggy, but I wouldn't come here when the fog is lifted here though."

"Why's that? It seems like the perfect time to explore."

"No, whatever you do, don't come here when your world is foggy." Teddie warned, he wanted to stress that fact. "The shadows here get really violent when that happens, they'll attack everything in sight!"

Minako narrowed her eyes. _So_ _this fog, it must tame the shadows, to a certain point at least._ She suddenly noticed glasses with a red frame in Teddie's hand.

"Who are those for?"

"They're for Yukiko-chan! She likes the colour red you see."

"Yukiko? Who's she?"

"You don't know her?"

"No, I met Yuri-chan only yesterday. So I don't know anyone else in the group."

"Oh right. She was the girl that was thrown in with Yuri-chan. She's quite nice, you should meet her."

Minako stood there thinking for a moment.

"Hey Teddie, Yuri-chan mentioned a large castle in this world, do you think you could show me where it is?"

"Sure, just follow the bear!"

_Yukiko's Castle: Entrance_

Minako stared at the massive building with a feeling déjà vu. Upon entering, shadows immediately attacked her. She cut them down with with her weapon easily as she ascended the castle. None of her personas were needed for awhile as the seemingly endless castle threw waves and waves of shadows at her.

"Wow, you might even be stronger than sensei." Teddie commented when Minako struck down a flying shadow.

"Sensei?"

"Yuri-chans brother. He's way stronger than any of his friends; he can even use multiple personas!"

"Wait, he can use more than one persona?"

"Yep! It's so cool; I wish I could be as strong as sensei." Teddie continued to talk, but Minako was no longer listening. _So he has the Wild Card too. Two Wild Cards, this is too familiar._

The two proceeded upward to the eventual top of the castle. They found themselves confronted by a giant black bird in a throne room

"Oh no, this wasn't here before!" Teddie yelled as the bird let out a loud screech, forcing Minako and Teddie to cover their ears. While Teddie was panicking, Minako brought the Evoker towards her temple.

"Persona."

Thanatos formed from swirling blue light and readied his blade. The bird let loose a jet of black flames from its beak, fully engulfing Thanatos in it. Minako felt her body growing hotter but it was a minor annoyance, nothing more. Thanatos sped forward and cut through the bird with ease, having it explode into black feathers. A blue item in the midst of the black caught Minako's attention.

Minako ran forward as the blue object hit the ground. She picked it up to find was a fan on some sort. It felt much heavier and sturdier then than a normal one though.

It seemed like Minako had reached the top, and found zero new information about the shadow world. She sighed and began to leave, disappointed she hadn't found any new knowledge.

_Junes_

Yu followed Ai through Junes, while carrying everything she had bought. She obviously lied about the supplies but Yu didn't mind it very much. It was his first time skipping school and it really didn't matter that much when he and Yuri were staying in Inaba for only a year anyway.

As the two ate lunch in the Junes food court, Yu noticed a blue butterfly flying around them. Yu couldn't help but stare at it, he was entranced by it.

"Narukami-san? Hey! Narukami-san!" Ai managed to snap Yu out of his trance, as she repeatedly snapped her fingers.

"Are you okay? You just stopped moving for a moment there."

"I'm fine."

"Well you better be, you gotta carry this stuff to my house, remember?"

Yu turned his head back to where the butterfly was, but it was gone. When the two finished eating, Ai led Yu to continue her shopping.

As they entered the electronic section of Junes, Yu couldn't help but look around nervously, he felt a strange sensation that he was being watched. Shaking the thoughts away, Yu tried to focus on following Ai around, hoping her shopping spree would end soon. Just when he finished his thought, something smacked into his side, causing him to drop everything and fall on his side on the floor.

Yu looked up to see what had hit him. It turns out; it was a girl with brown hair and had red headphones around her neck. _She must have been listening to music before she hit me._

The girl extended her hand to help him up.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there. Are you okay?" Yu was about to take her hand to get up until his gaze met hers. _Blood red eyes..._

"Are you hurt Narukami-san?" Ai asked, showing actual concern Yu.

"Don't worry I'm fine." Yu assured Ai that he wasn't hurt.

"Well then, I think I've had enough shopping today, so let's take this stuff to my place."

Luckily for Yu, Ai's house wasn't too far off from Junes. When he waved goodbye to her, he felt time stopping again, he was beginning another social link.

As Yu left the house, he saw the girl waiting outside for him.

"Did you seriously just follow us here?"

"I'm sorry but I need to speak to you, and you two kinda left in a hurry."

"Your Minako Arisato, right?" The moment Yu saw her eyes, he knew who she was. Minako didn't react to his knowledge; it was only natural that his sister would tell him. _Now, did Yuri keep her word?_

"Do you know why I'm here?"

"Not a clue."

Minako let out a small sigh of relief. _Okay, I have to choose my next words carefully, just in case he is the killer._

"I want to join you." _Now, how will he react?_

"Join me? Are you talking about the investigation?" Minako nodded.

"That's right; I want to help you catch the killer. Your sister explained the situation to me. I have personas, so I can help you in the TV world. Oh and don't worry about trying to find a way to contact me, I'll be transferring to your school soon." Minako brought out her hand for him to shake. _Shit was that too suspicious, I am being too forward? Argh, I should have read his psych profile._

Yu merely looked surprised for a moment before accepting her offer and shook her hand.

"We could use all the help we can get so, Welcome to the team."

_Yasogami_

Yosuke and Chie were quite surprised at Yuri's fast recovery. Yukiko was still at home and yet Yuri was in class and answering questions correctly as King Moron took every opportunity to surprise her with a random question that had absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand.

_It's like he got a grudge against me or something. I guess I asked for it after what I said._ Yuri looked nervously at the empty seat beside her. _Guess he'll be gone for the whole day._ Ever since moving to Inaba, they didn't spend that much time together. She had felt time stop for her during class. _He must be bonding with that manager girl. Are girls like her really his type?_

After school ended, Yuri called her brother over the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, are you going to be able to attend practice today?"

"Damnit, it's too late to get to practice now, isn't it?"

"Yeah, also King Moron is looking for you, he thinks you're still at school with a girl or something."

"That sounds like him. Think you can swing by the club and tell them I can't make it?"

"Sure, bye."

"Thanks."

She hung up and went to tell the basket ball club that Yu wasn't coming.

When she got there she was greeted by a guy with blue hair.

"Hey is there anything I can help you with?"

"I just came by to tell you that my brother; Yu Narukami, won't be here at practice today."

"Really? Well that's a shame, or maybe not, I heard one of the teachers looking for him. What happened?"

"Something came up during lunch, I'm sorry this happened."

"Well its okay, not many people are here anyway, not even the manager. Although she's rarely here anyway."

"Well, goodbye then."

As she walked home, a big black limo passed her vision. It gathered quite a few looks from people on the sidewalk. _A limo? What celebrity would even come to Inaba in the first place?_

_Dojima residence_

When Yuri got home, she found her brother on the couch with Nanako, while uncle Dojima was on the phone. _Huh, uncle's home early today._

Dinner was quiet that night. Uncle Dojima had serious look on his face as they ate. When they finished, Dojima ushered Nanako to her room, while he told the twins to stay in the living room.

"Is there something wrong uncle?" Yu asked.

"Yeah, you see, I got a call while I was at work today." He took a breath before continuing. "It involves your parents."

That was all Yuri wanted to hear, as she immediately left the room after that. Yu sighed.

"What about them?" Yu asked after Yuri left.

"You know their business trip to America?"

"What about it?"

"They've gone missing."

Authors Note: I'm really sorry about this delay. I promise to do better...hopefully. Work is piling up, but I will not abandon this story. That I can promise.


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